Damn It, Kimberly!
by potterfan36041
Summary: No one likes to find out that someone they used to love is back in town, but what does that situation do to one Tommy Oliver?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Power Rangers or anything affiliated with them.

AN: All right, I'll admit that I had never seen the episode Forever Red until today, so I got inspired to write a one-shot of how I think it should have ended, mind you, it's not anything like the ending. I hope you enjoy it and since this is all off the top of my head, please give me grace with my grammatical errors.

"Hey Kim, call me when you get this, I think I have some news that you want to know about," Trini's voice played on the answering machine as she continued to put up her groceries. She had just moved into this house in Reefside and she wanted to actually make it a home before any of her friends visited. She, however, was having a hard time with that as she was always being called by someone about something. What could it possibly be now?

"Trini," Kim said as Trini's phone picked up and she wondered if she had gotten the machine.

"Hey, Kim. I didn't think that you would call back so soon," Trini said as she looked around the room. Many of the female rangers had assembled upon finding out that Tommy had set up a special mission. They all thought that it was only right that Kim be there to see them get back as well. "Can you come up to Angel Grove, now?"

"What's going on that I need to drop everything and come right now?" Kim asked as she looked over at her purse, knowing that she was going to go. She just wanted to give Trini a hard time for it.

"A special mission that my husband didn't deem necessary to tell me about," Trini said as Kim's mouth formed an 'o' and she completely understood the situation.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Kim said as she closed her phone and hurriedly put up her groceries.

"Did she buy it?" Cassie asked as Trini nodded her head yes. They all wanted to see the original pink so bad, but they knew that it would take a miracle to get her here without too many questions and somehow Trini had done just that.

"She knows that I am pissed at Jason, so she wants to see what I do to him when they land," Trini said as Ashley and Cassie both laughed. They had their own partners to rip into, but they had the feeling that Trini would be a little bit worse, considering the fact that she was six months pregnant.

---------------

"Nice job guys," Tommy said as the red rangers walked off their ship and into the open air. He had been worried that they wouldn't be able to make it, but they had somehow pulled it off.

"So the legend finally speaks about something other than specifics," Andros said as Tommy just shook his head. All he wanted to do right now was go home and take a long nap, but he had the feeling that was not going to happen.

"I need to be going," Tommy said as Jason shook his head no. They were all going to reminisce and he was going to be there for it.

"Hell no, Tommy," Jason said as Tommy gave him a perturbed look. Tommy didn't really want to be here when Trini found out where Jason had been and if the others were smart, they would have tried to leave to. "The last time we had a reunion, you left, so you're staying this time. I'm going to embarrass the hell out of you with all the facts about 'The Legend' and I'll make sure to include kissing on Kim in there."

"Great, that's all I need," Tommy said as Jason's attention went elsewhere and his eyes widened.

"Shit," Jason said as he walked over to the car that had just pulled up.

"He can say that again," Andros said as he scooted backwards. He wanted to get as far away from Cassie as he possibly could.

"Honey…" Jason began as Kim rolled down the window and looked out at him, which caused his mouth to drop open. He had not thought that Trini would call her in. He knew that Kim was back, but most of the people here wouldn't even recognize her. She had changed a lot since they had last seen her.

"Oh don't you honey her, Jason Lee Scott. You go on a damn mission when your wife is six months pregnant, have you lost your mind?" Kim asked as she climbed out of the car and Trini exited from the passenger's side. She was honestly enjoying watching Kim rip into Jason, it saved her a lot of energy.

"What are you," Jason trailed off, in wonder, as Tommy looked over at T.J. and just shook his head. He didn't recognize the woman, but she knew about the rangers, somehow.

"Don't act like you're surprised. You knew that I'd find out and one of the first people I'd call would be her," Trini said as Jason just raked his hands through his hair and began shaking his head. "What the hell were you thinking!"

"He wasn't," Eric said as Trini glared over at him and he quickly looked away. He did not want to receive her wrath if he could help it.

"Who can I get?" Kim asked, playfully, as Trini continued to rip into Jason and Cassie was letting Andros have it. She wanted to join in on the fun, but she didn't really know anyone. "None of you look familiar, what I wouldn't do to rip into Rocky right now. Why isn't he here? He was a red ranger too, unless I've lost my mind."

"Long story," Tommy said as the woman looked over at him and her expression changed from playfulness to utter terror.

"Tommy," Kim said as she looked back at Trini, Cassie, Kat, and Ashley. They were all watching her; they had known this would come and they had wanted to see how she would act.

"Yes," Tommy said as he still did not recognize her and she turned to walk away. She didn't want to see him, she didn't want to deal with this sort of drama tonight.

"You're staying," Trini said as Kim had been walking back towards her car, just shaking her head. "You wouldn't want to make my blood pressure go any higher, would you?"

"Tri, this isn't fair. I didn't know," Kim said as Kat had a sly smile on her lips. "You all planned this?"

"Yeah, we did. We've been wanting the two of you to see each other for years," Kat said as Kim threw up her hands in frustration and then walked over to Andros. She had briefly met him a couple of times because of ranger duties that the two of them worked on.

"I wish that I had known you would be here, I could have brought you some research," Andros said as Kim just shook her head. "You have to do it, you're here."

"That does not constitute me having to tell them anything. None of them need to know about that," Kim said as she pulled out her cell phone and scrolled down to Billy's number. She was definitely going to need some therapy after today.

"Who is that?" Tommy asked as T.J. gaped at him. How could he not recognize Kim? She didn't look all that different from the pictures that he had still lying around at his home.

"You don't recognize her?" T.J. asked as Tommy shook his head no. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place a name to her face to save his life. "You must have blocked her out really good."

"Billy, answer the damn phone," Kim said as Tommy gave her a hard look and then his eyes lit up in recognition. It was Kim, the woman that he had loved for so long and he didn't even recognize her anymore.

"You've got to be kidding me," Tommy muttered as T.J. and the other red rangers wore smirks on their faces. They never thought they'd see this out of 'The Legend', but now they were getting to see the human side of Tommy.

"We're not," Eric said as Tommy sat down in his place and just began shaking his head. He couldn't believe that this was happening now.

"I don't get it," Carlos muttered to T.J. as he looked at Tommy, completely confused.

"You don't know the story of the letter, we probably would have told you about that tonight, but we won't have the chance now," T.J. said as he watched the way that Kim and Tommy were acting.

"How did they plan this?" Tommy asked as he looked over at Trini and the other female rangers, who just had smirks on their faces.

"Let 'The Legend' stay and talk, we're going down to Bulk's establishment, minus Kim. You two have some catching up to do," Ashley said as Tommy glared at them and Kim just laughed out of the absurdity of the moment.

"Why are all of you doing this?" Kim asked as they all looked at each other. "We don't have anything to talk about."

"Everyone deserves a chance to be happy," Eric said as Tommy glared over at him and they all walked off, leaving the former red, white, and green ranger to fume as Kim just shook her head. She was going to get them back for this, somehow.

"Tommy, your keys," Jason said as Tommy shook his head no. He was not going to escape; he wouldn't be that mean and leave Kim without a ride.

"I'm not rude enough to leave her here, alone," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him. He was going to really hate her once he heard all of this.

"That's good," Trini said as they all hopped into vehicles and drove away.

"I love our ranger friends," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her and smiled. He knew that she was just as frustrated as he was about all of this crap.

"Yeah, me too. I was hoping to just get back to Reefside and get some rest. These missions take more out of me nowadays," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him, hoping that she had not heard him correctly. There was no way that she had just bought a home in the same town as Tommy.

"Please tell me that your parents live in Reefside," Kim said as Tommy shook his head no and then stared over at her, realizing what that accusation meant.

"You're kidding," Tommy said as Kim shook her head no. She was dead serious and Tommy would figure that out very soon, especially when he heard the rest of her news. "No ring. So you didn't marry Mr. Perfect?"

"Tommy, don't be an ass," Kim said as Tommy gave her a shocked look. She had never been this blunt with him before.

"I'm just saying that you dump me for Mr. Perfect and you don't even marry him," Tommy said as Kim glared over at him. He was really pissing her off now.

"Mr. Perfect happened to be your child, but I had a miscarriage, not that you care," Kim said as Tommy's mouth fell open and he tried to shake his head to make the thoughts go away. "It's not going to help, you have to deal with the truth."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tommy asked as Kim looked down at the ground.

"Tommy, it wasn't a good time and it had a lot to do with my being a ranger. Um…I've been in contact with Andros, a lot. My powers are still on the fritz, they have been since I lost them. There are some nights that I wake up and I'm glowing pink, there's others when I have a power surge that sends me flying from the bed. I'm not like all the normal rangers that just lose their powers and go on, mine are still clinging on tight," Kim said as Tommy just shook his head. He had a hard time believing that Kim had been dealing with this for years without anyone knowing, but he was actually sure that all the others knew. He had just been kept out of the loop because of his issues with Kim.

"Why not come back to Zordon and get help?" Tommy asked as Kim just shook her head. "He couldn't do anything for you?"

"He could try, but what was the point of bringing the team down even more? You didn't want me there and they didn't need a pissed off leader on top of everything else that they were dealing with," Kim said as she walked over to his jeep and propped herself against it.

"But then you go to Andros?" Tommy asked, not following the line. He didn't know she would even run into Andros without some help from some of the other rangers.

"No, I went to Aquitar and then they sent me to Andros, even he can't help. The only person that could was Zordon. I'll be like this forever," Kim said as she just shook her head and reached into her purse and handed Tommy an envelope. "I thought you might like to have this."

"What is it?" Tommy asked as Kim stood up and walked away. "Kim…don't go."

"I've got to Tommy. I want you to read through all of that and then meet up with the rest of us, if you still want to see me after all of it is said and done," Kim said as Tommy gave her another confused look, but decided to not argue. He was sure that Kim would be able to walk wherever they had chosen in a few minutes.

He then carefully unstuck the corner of the envelope and pulled it open. A letter that was several pages long fell out, but it was also accompanied by several pictures of Tommy. He didn't know how she would have been able to get them, but he was sure the letter explained it all. One picture did concern him though, it was an ultrasound and he could only assume it was a what could have been, for the both of them.

_Tommy or whomever might discover this in the event of my death, _

_ I hope that this letter finds you well, much unlike my last. Things have changed and I hope that you will understand some of them. Tommy is in great danger a danger that he does not know and will never understand. For the first time in your life, Tommy, your powers are not what they used to be and I know you can feel it too. The collective powers of the rangers have been drained over the last few years, according to my research; the rangers will only exist if new power sources are found. There will be no more rangers like those that Zordon harbored for so many years. The earth is in grave danger, again. _

_ This isn't a letter of apology, although I suppose it should be, considering the last letter of mine that found its way into your hands. The problem is, I have more of a confession than anything else, a confession that you are very likely not to like. Besides the fact that I have been in almost constant contact with Andros and have left the Earth to go to Aquitar several times, I have never fully quit being a ranger. _

_ How can that be? Yes, my powers were stripped like everyone else's but, my powers clung on and allowed me to become what I am now, an undefeatable ranger. My powers have cemented themselves with my body, to the point that I scare myself when I morph. I am no longer the pretty pink ranger, but a deeper shade that no one else would imagine my becoming, almost blood red. As it has been figured that I am the undefeatable ranger a lot has been put on me. I am now the lone protector of earth, plus any rangers necessary to get the job done and I will be, until the day I die. _

_ I didn't want for word of this to get out, who would? Then things began to happen in the cosmos that seemed to point out that you, at the very least, would know that I was the ranger you would suddenly be reporting to. The hierarchy has changed and we have had to switch around so positions, but now everyone is happy. We are all working in various places, but Andros makes us meet every so often for progress reports. The latest thing I was to report on, was you, the lone ranger that rivaled what I had and is very close to attaining it for himself. _

_ Tommy, as much as you might want to be a ranger all of your life, you don't want to be stuck as one. You've got a lot more to do in your life. Like marriage, a family, things like that, that you should have done a long time ago. I'm not going to tell you to go out and get married tomorrow, but I suggest it because as much as it hurts, we can't have each other. It would surely turn you into a permanent ranger with all of the responsibilities that no one wants. Intergalactic peace is a lot of work, even for an old ranger. _

_ This secret, is only the beginning. I have one that is possibly even worse, depending on who hears the news. I know that some would be happy to hear this and others would be worried at its implications. That is why I only leave evidence that it is true here, not anywhere else. There is a small chance that we have found another Zordon, more specifically a being possibly related to Zordon. If we were to ever rectify the ranger problem, we would have to have this person's power, at the very least. All rangers would be back and those that have become permanent rangers might even be able to take on a normal life once again. _

_ There, however, can be no mission to find if our assumptions are right, they refuse to allow us any access to the planet. No rangers have been there before and no rangers will go, so the rangers will end, very quickly. The Earth will only be protected by one, Tommy, I am sorry, but I will never be able to come back to you. I am now the protector, I am no longer a regular ranger, much less a regular person, which is something you deserve to have. I love you, take care of yourself. _

_Love, _

_Kim _

"She's not going to be with them," Tommy muttered to himself as he looked up and searched for her silhouette. It had been a long letter, but it had not taken him that long to read. He could just see her exiting the gate and he could only hope he could catch her before she left the earth, permanently. "She's leaving and I have to stop her."

"I wonder how much time I have," Kim mumbled as she looked around and then looked back to see a black jeep streaking across the open area. "Of course he would get done before I get to leave."

"Kimberly!" Tommy yelled as he slammed the car into park and he jumped out, just in time to grab her and keep her from stepping into the beam of light that had come shimmering up beside her. "You're not leaving Earth."

"Not permanently, but I do have to leave," Kim said as Tommy shook his head that she was not going to leave, not right away at least. "Tommy, I do have to leave. That was what Andros wanted me to tell all of you. I had written that letter to you, when I found out. It's time I go. I'll be back."

"Kimberly, please," Tommy begged as Kim just shook her head and then stepped into the glimmering lights and disappeared.

"You seem to be having a bad day," Adam said as he gave Tommy a knowing look as he walked up.

"I just lost Kimberly, again," Tommy said as he just shook his head. Why was she the one chosen to protect all of them and why in the hell was she so insistent that they now shouldn't work, not couldn't? As he looked up at the sky he cursed himself for knowing what was going on up there and for being able to do nothing to get to her.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Tommy, where's your better half?" Andros joked as Tommy walked up to all of them with the most pissed off look on his face. There was something going on here that none of them knew about and they could all sense it. "Something I said?"

"You knew that she was doing this?" Tommy asked as Andros looked down at the ground. When the pink ranger had come to him for help, he had thought that it would be easy to keep it from Tommy. He was now finding out that it was nearly impossible, his contact with the former red ranger had reached its peak only months ago and it happened to be at about the same time that Kimberly found out just what Tommy had in his possession.

"Yeah, I knew what she was doing, but how was I supposed to explain that to you?" Andros asked, pointedly, as Tommy looked away from him. He knew just how right Andros was, Tommy had not wanted to hear a thing about Kim and now he suddenly wanted to know everything.

"Why does she matter?" Carlos asked as the others looked at each other. They hadn't really gotten to explain that to him and he had just walked into a very sore spot without even knowing it. Maybe Tommy would be nice to him since he didn't know all about his past.

"She's the one woman I've ever loved," Tommy said as he just shook his head. He, obviously, was not thinking too clearly considering the fact that Katherine was only a few feet away, but a chance meeting like this with Kim was expected to have some repercussions. "Why couldn't she have told me the truth?"

"You think she wanted to keep it a secret? The only reason she came around to it, is because she knows what you have," Andros said as Tommy just shook his head.

"Yeah, so I'm going to be working with her and she doesn't want me. I can't do this," Tommy said as Jason and Andros shook their heads. Tommy was going to have to do this; he didn't really have a choice about it.

"I didn't know that can't was in your vocabulary," T.J. said as Tommy just shook his head. His successor had not been around enough to know how things truly went with him and Kim.

"Can't is in my vocabulary when it comes to her. Do you know how many times I told myself that I can't go to her and try to get her back? That I can't be with her because that is what she wants? Why didn't someone tell me that she had a miscarriage? Why didn't I know all of this stuff?" Tommy asked as the red rangers looked at each other. They did not like hearing about all of this and they were sure that Tommy was not happy with any of them.

"Most of us didn't know," Trini said as Tommy looked over at her. "I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago. She seems to be telling all of us the truth now. She seems to be have been waiting for the right time and it seems that is now."

"Now isn't the right time," Tommy said as Trini just shook her head. It hurt all of them to see Tommy this upset about something, but they had all had the sinking feeling that it was coming. Things between Kim and Tommy just had to be resolved and they were all hoping that this approach would work for them.

"It is for her and that's all that really matters when you think about it," Jason said as Tommy merely nodded. He knew just how right they all were, but he really didn't want to admit it.

"So what do I do now?" Tommy asked, as he looked over at Andros. He had a feeling that he knew a lot more than he was letting on about the entire situation.

"You just have to wait until the time is right. I promise that you will be seeing a lot more of her, but it's getting late and I need to be able to make it home," Andros said as he stood to exit. All of the other rangers wanted to hear more, but they were afraid that Andros and Tommy would get into a huge fight if they continued to sit in front of each other and nitpick on all of the things that were going on.

"Like your ship can't make it in five seconds flat," Tommy said as he shook Andros' hand and let him go. He knew what Andros was doing, just as well as all the others, but it was really for the best. He didn't need the confrontation tonight. "Have a good trip."

"I will," Andros said with as much confidence as he could muster as he walked out of the bar.

"I don't want to go back to Reefside," Tommy muttered as Jason and Trini looked over at him. They knew that it was pretty bad if Tommy didn't even want to go back there. "Why didn't you tell me that she was living in Reefside?"

"We were going to wait until you got the invitation to her housewarming," Trini said as Tommy glared over at her. If she had not been pregnant, she was pretty sure that Tommy would have jumped her right now.

"You are so lucky," Tommy muttered as he signaled the nearest waiter and asked for a beer. He really wanted something stronger, but he didn't think that it was necessarily the best thing for all of them considering the fact that there were quite a few that were under aged.

"Don't drown yourself in that," Jason said as he watched Tommy take a gulp. "You can come back to our house for the night."

"That sounds just great," Tommy said as some of the other red rangers gave him confused looks. "I'm not pleased with this, Jason. The first time that I see Kim in about ten years and I find out that she had a miscarriage, is now a permanent…never mind, I'll come around to that later, and she lives in Reefside. I need to drown myself right now."

"Nope, I'm not cleaning up your puke," Trini said as Jason laughed and Tommy could only shake his head. He had been known to have that sort of reaction when he had too much alcohol and he imagined that Trini's current condition would not give her any patience with him, so she heeded her warning.

"This wasn't exactly what I imagined out of all of you," Carlos said as T.J. and Eric laughed. No one else might see it as funny, but they had been around Tommy enough to know that anything that had to deal with Kimberly had this sort of reaction.

"You just saw the one female ranger that could probably whoop my ass. Things are about to change a lot around here," Tommy said as he looked at Jason and Trini, very pointedly. They knew that they were going to have a long conversation with Tommy when they got away from everyone else.

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked as Tommy looked over at him. He was not sure that he could reveal the truth to him; he was just too young to understand it.

"Let's just say that ranger powers are about to be a lot harder to come by," Tommy said as he looked around the table. "And I have the next set of powers."

"You're kidding," Jason said as Tommy just shook his head no.

"How did you happen to come by these?" Kat asked as Tommy just looked over at her and shook his head. He was sure that they didn't need to know about that.

"I'm not even going to go there. I'm sure that the rest of you will find out whenever Kim needs me to be a ranger again," Tommy said as they just shook their heads and looked around the bar. It was beginning to become more crowded and he knew that anything that they said could be overheard and it didn't need to be. There was no way that he was going to have to start running from everyone because of someone finding out he was a ranger.

"We probably need to head home, I have a feeling that someone that will be leaving early in the morning," Jason said looking over at Tommy and he nodded. He didn't need to stay in this bar any longer or Trini would be cleaning up his puke.

"Yeah, I've got a couple of things that definitely need to be cleared up," Tommy said as Jason just looked over at Trini and they stood up and walked over to pay their tab.

--------------

"What else is there Tommy?" Trini asked as they walked into their house and Jason looked over at Tommy. He had thought that Trini was going to save the interrogation until the morning.

"Kim is now a permanent ranger and I can't be with her because I'll become one myself," Tommy said, rather bluntly, as Trini and Jason looked at each other. This was definitely not something that they wanted to hear, but they didn't have much choice about it.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jason said as sat down and Tommy shook his head no. He was surprised that Trini and Jason did not know about this sort of activity when they knew that she had been living in Reefside for the past few weeks.

"I wish I was, then maybe I would have an honest chance with her again," Tommy muttered as Trini sat down next to Jason and Tommy sat on the other side of her.

"I wish that you could Tommy," Trini said as she wrapped her arms around the hurting red ranger and watched as some tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes.

"You know, I was alright with not seeing her, but now I know that I can never be all right with that sort of life," Tommy said as Trini and Jason nodded. They had both known that this day would come for Tommy, but they had hoped that it would be at a time when the two of them could actually be together again.


	3. Chapter 3

Kimberly walked through the laboratory; she had the feeling that Andros would be joining her soon. She had not wanted to have this meeting with Tommy, but when she was placed in front of him she really had no choice. He had asked for answers and if he wanted the truth, she had to say some things that would hurt him. It was not a truth that she even liked to live with and it was something that Tommy was definitely going to have to get used to, quickly.

"Kimberly, why leave him like that? He's going to need you," Andros said as he walked into the room and Kim looked back at him. Andros knew exactly why Kim was not with them. He knew exactly why she couldn't stay around Tommy; he knew the temptations and she had promised herself long ago that she would not make Tommy what she was now. She had promised that their child would have at least one parent that was normal and she'd be damned if she didn't see that promise through.

"I don't want to turn him into what I am. You know how much it has hurt me," Kim said as Andros gave Kim a sympathetic look. When she had found out that her Ninjetti powers had an even deeper connection than what most of the others experienced, it had been hard to take. When she suddenly transformed into the red crane, she knew and so did everyone else that had seen it, that she was a permanent ranger. Tommy hadn't experienced it and neither had anyone else that had been a Ninjetti or any other ranger for that matter. No one else knew what it was like to have this burden and she didn't think it fair to make them go through it.

"But how much will it hurt the two of you when you begin working together and he suddenly starts having feelings for you again. I saw it tonight Kim. No matter how much you tried to stomp it out, he still loves you more than anyone else in the world," Andros said as Kim looked away from him. She hated hearing that from him. She knew it was true, but she also loved living in the pure bliss that was her ignorance. If she acted like she didn't realize it, then maybe it was not true, but when someone pointed it out to her, she knew it was true.

"You're not telling me anything new, Andros. I never thought that I would have to work with Tommy again. I thought that he had retired," Kim said as an excuse as Andros just shook his head. She was making him mad, but he didn't know how to make her understand that what was ahead of them was going to take much more out of her than normal.

"And I thought that you were not this stubborn," Andros said as Kim smiled. She had been working with him for so long and even if he was frustrated with her, she knew that they would definitely look out for each other. They were the only two that could say that for sure after everything that had happened.

"Usually you would be right, but we're talking about Tommy, you have to remember that," Kim said as Andros nodded. It made sense to him that she would be this stubborn about Tommy. If the truth were known, she had never fallen out of love with him either, but she certainly didn't think that being with him would help him now. He deserved a life on Earth, her right to that had been forfeited a long time ago.

"Kimberly, he's going to find out more than you want him to know from the others, very soon. If you want him to know the truth, you better go tell him yourself, as soon as possible. You don't want him to be thoroughly pissed off at you when you finally begin working together again," Andros said as Kim nodded. She knew that she was going to have to face the man that still haunted her dreams soon, but she had hoped that she could hold it off. Trini tricking her into coming to cuss out Jason had messed up her entire plan.

"I explained to him that I had a miscarriage, but how do I explain to him the child we actually do have? The one night after Murianthius probably wouldn't make him think of a child," Kim said as Andros let out a long breath. Things had always been complicated when it came to Kim and Tommy; now he was seeing just how truly complicated it was. He had met Kim's child when she began working with him, but he had never known it was Tommy's. He had always suspected, but never had the courage to ask. Kim was not a ranger to be messed with, which was something that a lot of rangers had to learn to respect. She had the status of Tommy in his mind, without all the fanfare, and soon many other rangers were going to be forced to recognize a second legend in their midsts.

"But the pictures that Jason and Trini have will. He's going to go stay with them tonight and I'm sure he is going to pick their brains for everything that they are worth," Andros said as Kim looked over at her sleeping child and then back at Andros. "What do you want me to do boss?"

"Teleport him here, we might as well have this out in the open now. I know that all of the other rangers are going to be happy that it's out in the open. They won't have to lie to him anymore," Kim said as Andros left the room and Kim walked over to the sleeping child. She did not want to wake her up, but she knew that she would want to meet her father. She had been asking about him, ever since the day she saw the picture of Kim and Tommy together, she recognized herself in Tommy. She was sure it was her dad and for a six year old that was pretty smart, now she was eight and had a lot more questions that Kim could no longer hold off.

-----------------

"Trini, please don't tease me like that," Tommy said as Trini was showing Tommy the pictures of Kim that she had. She had gathered that Kim had not told Tommy about the child that had survived, so she was having a hard time picking out pictures that she could show him. All the recent pictures of Kim had her with their child and she knew that Tommy would figure it out in about two seconds if she showed one of those. "Where are the new pictures?"

"I don't know," Trini said as she began staring at Tommy as he was shimmering.

"Is something wrong?" Tommy asked as he looked down at himself. One second he was sitting on Trini's living room couch, the next second he found himself landing with a thump on a metal floor.

"Sorry to have to do that to you Tommy, but it's on the boss's orders," Andros said as Tommy managed to gather himself up so that he could stand.

"The boss?" Tommy asked as he could roughly figure out who that was, but he still didn't want to hear it.

"Yeah, she's got some…news for you," Andros said as he definitely could not think of the right way to say that Tommy was going to meet his daughter without giving it away.

"I think I've had enough news from your boss," Tommy said as Andros nodded. He had expected to hear something like that from him. Tommy had definitely not had a good day, except for the defeat of Mondo's cronies, it had been an utter disaster.

"Yeah, I thought that too, but if I had not teleported you, then you'd find this out from one of the others and even she doesn't think that is right," Andros said as a little girl ran into the room, in her night shirt and jumped into Andros' arms, as Kim chased after her.

"Tommy," Kim said, carefully, as Jenny laughed as Andros tickled her, while holding her securely.

"Mama," Jenny said seriously, as she swatted away Andros' hands and Kim looked at her. She could see the question forming in her mind already.

"Don't ask that just yet," Kim said as Jenny gave her a sullen look and Kim rubbed her forehead as Tommy stared, completely dumbstruck. Kim was a mother? But hadn't she lost their child? Hadn't she told him just a few hours ago that she had a miscarriage? "Come with me."

"I'm a little bit confused," Tommy said as Kim nodded. She would be confused if she had all of this happen to her as well.

"I don't blame you for being confused, there's a lot of things that you need to know, that I honestly thought I would be able to put off for awhile," Kim said as they walked to an outer ring of the ship. "Do you remember the night we came back from Murianthius?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Tommy asked as Kim looked back towards the room that they had just exited.

"I guess I should say do you remember what we did," Kim said, carefully, as Tommy nodded his head. How could he forget that night? It didn't even matter to him that they were no longer together, it was great to have her, one last time. "I didn't have a miscarriage that time Tommy."

"Kim?" Tommy asked as he stopped in his tracks and then completely turned to face the room. "She's mine?"

"Yeah, she is and that's another reason that I have stayed away from you. I wanted to make sure that she would have one normal parent if anything happened to me. Then you have to go and find the Dino gems," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her. He could see that this job was taxing on her, to say the least. He just couldn't understand why she wouldn't tell him about a lot of things. He could have helped her. "Tommy, please don't ask me why. I don't know if I can take that tonight."

"Look at what this is doing to you," Tommy said as he reached out to her and she allowed him to wrap his arms around her. She needed someone to just understand and not try to make it go away and she knew Tommy was that person. But she also wanted to keep her distance. "Why don't you take a break from it all?"

"It's not so easy, the world depends on me to keep it safe, I can't really take a break," Kim said as Tommy let out a long sigh. He hated when her answer was so politically correct.

"You could share," Tommy said, simply, as Kim pulled away from him and shook her head no. It couldn't happen, even if she wanted for him to help her, it wasn't in his best interest for her to allow it. She knew just how much of a curse this life could be and she didn't want another ranger to go through it.

"I promised myself that she'd have one normal parent and Tommy, you're as close as it is ever going to get for her," Kim said as she let out a shaky breath and then looked back towards the room where they had left their daughter. It was time that Tommy met her, but she was not sure how he was going to deal with the reality, as it had kinda been forced on him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Andros, who is that man?" Jenny asked as she slid down his body and walked over to the door, trying to hear something from the hallway.

"You're gonna have to let your mama tell you that one little bit," Andros said as he laughed at her. He knew that unless Kim and Tommy were having the fight of the century, only a few inches from the door, that Jenny was not going to hear a thing. That was the nice thing about this place, it was pretty much sound proof.

"I hate these doors," Jenny pouted as she walked over to her make shift bed and sat down. "Why is that Mama has to do this anyway? We have a new house in Reefside and she still chooses to live here."

"It's not really a choice…" Andros began as Jenny glared at him.

"It's a way of life," Jenny finished as Andros just shook his head. The kid had had it rough, what with Kim becoming a permanent ranger and her having to go around the world to be with the various teams, it hadn't made much of a home life for Jenny. Kim wished with all her heart that she could change that fact, but she couldn't. "You and my mama are too much alike."

"Yeah," Andros said, that was the understatement of the century. They were the only two rangers that were still going strong, years after their service was terminated. Tommy had probably been on the most teams, but the two of them had a unique ranger bond and it was something that none of them could destroy.

"Jenny," Kim said, tentatively, as their daughter snatched her head away from the door and Tommy couldn't help but laugh. It was just the type of thing that Kim would do if she was curious about something. "This is Tommy."

"You didn't say if he was my father or not," Jenny said as Tommy looked away from Kim. She had gotten herself into this mess and she could get herself out of it.

"I think it's a toss-up between me and him," Andros joked as Jenny's eyes brightened. She knew that Andros was not her father, so this man must be.

"You're my dad?" Jenny shrieked as she caught Tommy by surprise as she threw both of her arms around him in a tight embrace. She had waited so long to meet him, but he didn't look anything like the pictures that she had once looked at. "Where do you live?"

"Reefside," Tommy said, simply, as Jenny gave her mom a critical look and Tommy could tell that the two of them were battling about whether or not she would keep her mouth shut. "Yeah, your mom told me that you just moved there."

"And we still come here, I don't know why," Jenny said as Tommy looked over at Kim and she half shrugged her shoulders. She hadn't exactly explained to their daughter what was going on, but she didn't have much of a choice about that. She didn't want her to get hurt by it.

"God Kim," Tommy half moaned as she walked away from him. She knew that Tommy wanted to wrap his arms around her and take it away, but there was no way for him to do that. She had made a mistake by letting him hug her in the hall, she knew that now. "Andros, please explain this."

"I can't tell you anymore than she can. Trust me, when it's time for you to use what you have, she'll be there," Andros said as Tommy picked Jenny up and she laughed as he gave her a tight hug. He was more than she had expected as a father, but she didn't think that she needed to say that to her mama.

"Mama, can I go home with him?" Jenny asked as Kim snatched her head around and saw the lost puppy face that Jenny was making as she elbowed Tommy to join her. "Just for the night?"

"I guess that would be fine," Kim said as Jenny smiled and Tommy couldn't help but smile too, although he knew he didn't have any groceries. He wasn't such a great cook and lived on take-out most nights, but he was sure that Jenny would be fine with that for a night. "We can get everything of yours back to your house for you,"

"Okay," Tommy said as he and Jenny disappeared in a shimmer of light, with the last thing Kim heard was their daughter's giggling. She always did that when they teleported her somewhere.

"It's already beginning Kim and you are not much better than he is," Andros said as Kim looked away from him. She didn't want to hear that from him. She knew just how true it was, but she had hoped that he would not notice and politely keep his mouth shut about the matter.

"Please Andros, it's just because he knows about her. He knows we can't be together," Kim said as Andros shook his head.

"And I know that I can't be with Cassie, but it doesn't stop me from trying. He's never going to quit trying for you Kim and you are going to give into him some day. You're not strong enough to do all of this without him. We've known that from the beginning. That's why you always prayed that he would never get another set of powers. You didn't want to have to face the reality," Andros said as Kim let out a frustrated sigh and she pegged him with a hard stare.

"Don't tell me what I am going to do," Kim said as she wiped the tears that had leaked out of her eyes and walked further away from him.

"Kim, I'm not telling you anything that you don't know, we both know that," Andros said as he put his arm around her and looked at her tear streaked face. "Oh, Kim, why do you do this to yourself?"

"To protect them. Do you know what it would do to Jenny to find out that the both of us live this kind of life? She wants him to be just an ordinary person and I'll be damned if I don't let her have that," Kim said as Andros gave her a hug. She was certainly taking this rougher than she would have in the past.

"Tommy has never been normal Kim, not in the sense that Jenny thinks of. Do you know what is in his basement?" Andros asked as Kim nodded her head yes. She had been brought into the construction by some of the other rangers, although Tommy would never know that. He didn't need to know that most of the executive decisions that he made had been brought to her to be approved. That certainly would make things much worse than they already were. "Don't you think that should tell you that he's not normal?"

"I know, but it's not the same as me," Kim said as Andros just shook his head. Tommy was only a stone's throw away from becoming a permanent ranger and it was time for Kim to realize that or things were going to get much worse for the two of them. "Kim, it'll only take one more time as a ranger before his powers cement. You know that his Ninjetti powers are still strong, it's not going to take much more before he is here with us," Andros said as Kim shook her head in denial. She didn't want to hear this about Tommy. She wanted to pretend that he was just a normal person that had been a ranger once, a long time ago.

"Andros, for my sake, let's not talk about that. Come on, I've got something that we need to do," Kim said as she walked back out the doors with Andros only a few feet behind her, completely confused.

"I thought you were going to settle down for the night," Andros said as Kim shook her head no. If Andros was right about the amount of power that Tommy had, he must be a beacon to all evil forces in the universe and she had to find a way to camouflage that beacon.

"If my child is with him and he is really that powerful, I think cloaking his home would be a wise idea. There is a monster out there that is looking for a chance to go after those gems that he took," Kim said as Andros just shook his head. He believed that she wanted to protect Jenny, but deep down he knew that this was just one more futile attempt to not give Tommy any reason to use the gems that he had found over the summer.

"All right Kim, but don't bitch at me when he still winds up becoming a ranger again," Andros said as he began working alongside her. That comment would have been enough to earn anyone else a smack, but Kim didn't do that to Andros. She knew that would be exactly what she would be doing as soon as Tommy became one of them again.

"How did the younger rangers react to working with a legend?" Kim asked as she began pulling up information on Tommy's house and she knew that this job was going to take a little bit longer than normal. She wanted to cloak it immediately, but she could only get the bits of the house that were above ground. For some reason whatever was below ground refused to let her cloak it. "What the hell does he have in that house?"

"You want my honest answer?" Andros asked as Kim nodded her head yes. "He's already cloaked the command center from evil, he didn't see the point in cloaking it from good, just in case he ever did need help."

"Tommy wouldn't ask for help," Kim said as Andros shook his head that she was wrong. Tommy was just as likely to ask for help as the next person, especially considering how the last few months had gone for him. He knew that he was not the ranger that he used to be, no matter what all of his powers seemed to pale in comparison to the last pair he had truly shared with Kim and he didn't know why. "He wouldn't ask for my help."

"You're the one ranger that I think he would ask. He knows that you are stuck as a ranger and he trusts you, whether you like that is something that I have yet to figure out," Andros said as Kim gave him a perturbed look. She knew that their relationship was different from most friendships, but this was the type of thing she would expect for Trini, although Andros had been spending a lot more time with her friends lately.

"Please tell me that you and Trini are not plotting against me," Kim said as she stared at the house and saw Jenny and Tommy out in the yard. It was odd to watch the two of them get to know each other from a distance. Jenny was a little bit of the bot of them, she had known that from the beginning, but Tommy was new to being a father. She had been a mother since the beginning, but Tommy seemed to just slide into it. Why had she been so afraid of telling him?

"Not exactly. I just figured out some things today and I now know why Trini and all of them did that today. The two of you are miserable without each other…uh-uh, don't you dare lie to me," Andros said as Kim looked away. She hated when Andros went on one of these kicks, because it usually described her to a tee. "Kim, I don't care if you don't want him to become a permanent ranger, but guess what, either he will become a permanent ranger or one of you is going to die. You're no good without each other, trust me when I say that Tommy's motivation has been you for years, but with what is probably ahead of him, he's going to actually need you there."

"Andros please," Kim begged as tears streamed down her face. She couldn't bear to hear anymore of the facts that she had been denying for the past ten years. It was enough that she had denied their child the chance to be with her father, she didn't need it pointed out that the only reason she had done that was because she felt that she needed to avoid Tommy, no matter what the cost.

"Okay," Andros said as he reached over and put his arm around her. She was the strongest ranger that he knew and yet a few choice words about a special man made her disintegrate into tears. Why hadn't she told Tommy the truth when she had had a chance, before everything went to hell in her life?


	5. Chapter 5

"So, what do you want to do?" Tommy asked as Jenny ran around the yard. He was definitely enjoying watching her, but he knew that he had to get ready for tomorrow, when Jason and Trini were going to bring his car up here. He was sure that he would be seeing Kim tomorrow, as it must not be normal for Jenny to be out of her sight.

"I want to stay out here," Jenny said as Tommy merely nodded his head. There was still plenty of daylight and if she was having fun, then it was worth it. He was sure that she had gotten used to being stuck in space for very long periods of time, which was something that drove him near to insanity. He couldn't help but wonder how Kim dealt with it; she had always liked being among real things.

"All right," Tommy said as he sat down on the tiny ledge that he had in front of his house. He then heard something land in the back yard and looked over at Jenny. He could think of what it was, but he did not want that possibility to cross his mind. He had just gotten through with Mondo's cronies. He did not want to have to see Mesogogg today.

"What was that?" Jenny asked as she stopped her spinning and looked over at Tommy. He had an unreadable expression on his face, but she had seen that far too many times on her mother's face. She knew that it meant that they were in trouble. "You're one of them too?"

"Not exactly, Andros and your mom are kinda permanently stuck. I just get called up a lot," Tommy said with a forced smile as Jenny walked over to him.

"Come on, let's go see what it is," Jenny said as Tommy gave her a completely confused look. She did not sound like an eight year old at all with that vocabulary.

"Your mom will kill me if something happens to you," Tommy said as she started running off towards the back yard and Tommy quickly caught up with her and scooped her up. "I don't have to look."

"You don't?" Mesogogg taunted as he landed in front of Tommy and he glared over at him as Jenny's eyes widened. "Who is this? I never remember you having any family Tommy."

"I've always had family, I just never thought evil should know about it," Tommy said as he lowered Jenny to the ground and she crept behind him and hid her face in his back. She didn't want to see what was happening.

"Where's your wife then?" Mesogogg asked as tryannadrones landed around them and Tommy reached back and pulled Jenny closer to him.

"She's busy at the moment," Tommy said as she squatted down next to Jenny and placed his communicator on her wrist and pressed the teleport combination. "Now, what do you want with me?"

"Where'd the little one go?" Mesogogg roared as Tommy chuckled.

"To be with her mother, where she's safe. It's not exactly safe to be around you," Tommy said as he looked at Mesogogg. "Do you really want to do this?"

"Defeating you is my only goal," Mesogogg said as Tommy just shook his head and settled into a battle stance. "Get him."

------------

"Hey, what are you doing back here?" Andros asked as Jenny landed in the middle of the room and she ran over to him and clung to him. "Kim!"

"What?" Kim asked as she took her time walking into the room. "Why in the world…"

"Daddy's being attacked," Jenny managed to mutter as Andros looked over at Kim and watched as she picked up her morpher and then teleported out of the room. She knew that Kim was righteously pissed right now, even if no one else would admit it.

"It's going to be fine, Jenny," Andros said as she shook in his arms and Andros let out a sigh. Kim had always sheltered her from this life as much as she could and Andros knew that Tommy would do the same thing. He couldn't help that monsters just seemed to pop up in his life.

-------------

"You ass hole," Tommy muttered as he continued to fight the tryannadrones that had surrounded him and he just shook his head. Mesogogg did not want to fight him, he just wanted to see how bad he could make Tommy hurt.

"Don't say that too loud," Mesogogg leered as Tommy's eyes narrowed and he slung off all the tryannadrones and headed straight for Mesogogg. He was tired of living this life, tired of constantly having to worry about what might come at him next. He wanted so desperately to be normal again.

"Get inside, Tommy," Kim said as she landed next to him and Tommy gave her a crazy look. "Please, I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be fine, Kim," Tommy said as Mesogogg looked between the two of them and smiled.

"So, you're going to fight about who is going to stay and try to defeat me," Mesogogg said with a grin as Kim just shook her head and charged Mesogogg as she morphed into the red ranger.

"Damn it," Tommy muttered as he spared her one more glance before he turned to the tryannadrones. After several minutes of harried fighting, Mesogogg decided it was best to withdraw his forces and as he did, Kim glared over at Tommy.

"You can't even protect her from this!" Kim roared as Tommy looked over at her, completely shocked.

"I sent her back to you, to protect her. Unlike you I don't want to make her live in a space center meant for rangers in order to keep her out of harms way. She's going to have to live on Earth at sometime. You know that she wants friends, but she can't have that there Kim," Tommy said, calmly, as Kim powered down and walked over to him.

"I've been her only protection for years, so don't you dare tell me that I don't know what's best for her," Kim said as she shook and Tommy pulled her into a reluctant hug.

"You don't have to be the only one anymore Kim; she's mine too and if you had told me earlier, I would have helped," Tommy said as Kim barely nodded. She knew all of this about Tommy. He had always been too good for her and even though she had told him they could never be together again, he still wanted to try to make things good for their child. "Oh Kimberly…"

"Tommy please, I can't take it now," Kim muttered as he nodded his head and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I understand if you want to keep her with you tonight. She probably won't want to come back to this place for awhile anyway," Tommy said as Andros and Jenny appeared and Tommy reluctantly released Kim.

"I just came to drop her back off and collect her. I think that both of them need a good nights rest," Andros said as Tommy nodded his head in agreement. The concerned looked that followed Kim was enough to put Andros' worries at ease, Tommy was going to be one of them, in time for him to be able to help Kim with something that Andros could not face. He knew he would be failing his friend, but he would be failing in the entire ranger world if he did not at least try what so many others had long suggested.

"Daddy," Jenny whispered as Tommy squatted down and opened his arms wide to let her give him a vicious hug.

"It's okay," Tommy whispered as he looked up at Andros and Kim and saw Kim wiping her eyes as Andros teleported them away. She had never thought this day would come, when the two of them would be united, but it had. And it had changed absolutely everything that she had thought she would be able to maintain.


	6. Chapter 6

"You think that Tommy will be able to calm her down?" Andros asked as Kim looked back at him. She didn't want to talk about that right now and he knew it all too well. She, however, knew that Andros would not let this go, no matter what. "Kim, you know that his day is coming. I don't know how much longer we can hold it off."

"Don't tell me that, Andros. I want her to be able to have a normal life if she chooses," Kim said as Andros stepped back from her and took a very long look at her.

"So, you're saying that if she were to choose Tommy to live with instead of you, you'd be fine with it?" Andros asked as Kim looked away from him. They both knew how she felt about that and she didn't want to verbalize it, but he was asking her to do that. He was asking for her to make it real.

"No, but that's not the point. I want her to be able to go to a home without someone being stuck as a ranger," Kim said as Andros nodded, but he knew that there was much more to it. There had been times when it would have been easier on Kim to have Tommy right there beside her, but she, for some reason, had decided that she must stay away from him.

"Kimberly, you can't tell me that you think Tommy will make it through this next year without becoming one of us," Andros said as Kim sat down on her bed and he sat down across from her on his own. They had been sharing this room for years and all the other rangers knew there was nothing there. They had both had others that had stolen their heart, but for their sakes they were trying to keep them away. That wasn't working too well right now, but it was the only thing that they could find mutual ground on that they felt strongly about.

"You're right, I can't, but I can tell myself that I can protect him by keeping him out of the fight as long as possible. It's no fun to give up your life for this," Kim said as Andros laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Tommy has already done that, Kim. He will drop everything if there is some distant rumbling of trouble and what is going on right now is much more than a distant rumbling. He knows what is likely to happen and he's ready to be put up on that mantle again, even if it might be permanent. Kim, he's more of a ranger than either of us," Andros said as Kimberly let out a sigh. Tommy was an amazing ranger; there was no use in denying that. She, however, knew that he had grown tired of his job. It kept him from having a life, which was something that he had wanted since he was first brought into this world.

"Don't remind me," Kim muttered as she looked at the cold, steel wall. "I could have had a life with him."

"You still can. He hasn't shut you out and I don't think he ever will," Andros said, pointedly, as Kim kicked off her shoes and crawled under the covers. She didn't want to hear anymore of his psychological babble tonight. She had heard all of this from her friends and she just didn't want to make herself deal with the fact that she had pushed away the best thing that had ever happened to her.

-------------

"Why do you and Mama have these things come after you?" Jenny asked as Tommy looked down. He knew that the reality was that they still saw him as a threat, but he didn't think that it was smart to say that to an eight year old.

"Because we're the only ones willing to fight," Tommy said as Jenny said down, thinking about that statement. Why didn't it seem like that was completely true?

"There is no one else?" Jenny asked, hopeful that he would say that there were a lot more of them that she never saw.

"Not anymore," Tommy said as Jenny just hung her head and he scooped her up in a tight hug. "It's going to be all right, sweetie."

"I know, but I want to see you and Mama together again," Jenny said as Tommy looked away from her. She really didn't like that they were apart and she had always dreamed of having a real family.

"You'll have to talk to your mama about that happening," Tommy said as Jenny let out a long yawn and Tommy gave her a weak smile. He knew that he needed to get her to sleep, but she was fighting for each minute that she could stay awake with him. "Come on, let's get you in bed."

"I don't want to go to sleep," Jenny yawned as Tommy held in a laugh. Tommy had seen Kim do that so many times before when she desperately wanted to stay awake, but would soon pass out against his shoulder.

"I know," Tommy said as he led her back to his guest room, which he assumed he would have to decorate as her own room very soon. He wanted her to at least feel like she had a home here, even if it was only for a couple of days a week.

"Daddy, why did you and Mama forget about each other?" Jenny asked as Tommy looked down at the ground. Kim was the one that needed to answer that question for Jenny. He didn't have any right to try to explain her reasons, at all.

"We never forgot about each other," Tommy said as Jenny climbed onto the bed and within seconds was dead to the world. Tommy then carefully tucked her in and turned out the light, knowing that he had a long night ahead of him.

-------------

Andros walked around the space station in silence. He knew that every ranger had been looking into what was going on with the current situation for years. They had all been waiting for Tommy and Kim to at least meet and put some things to rest, but he felt that nothing had been put to rest yet. There were still a lot of injuries that had not been even touched on tonight. Neither of them had been willing to go there. The problem was there, that Tommy and Kim were going to have to come to terms with it quickly because of Jenny. That little girl was not going to let them get away with anything. He honestly loved that. He had been waiting for something like this to happen to them.

Sure there had been times when he wondered about his relationship with Kim, it seemed that every man that was around her had those thoughts. He had even asked Jason about it and Jason had admitted that he had thought it when they were teenagers. The problem was that Kim hardly showed interest in anyone but Tommy. Tommy didn't know the extent of everything that went on with them, but he was sure that Tommy knew deep downt that Kim was only interested in him. If he didn't he was certainly one of the stupidest rangers that he had ever met. It was obvious to everyone what Kim and Tommy had, it just was not obviuos to them anymore. They had lost their way.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been years since Tommy Oliver had slept so poorly, but he was now experiencing this again. His entire world had been turned upside down last night and it was the hardest thing that he had ever had to deal with. There were some things in his life that he regretted and Kimberly had never been one of them, she wasn't even one to them now. He knew that he loved her with every fiber of his being, so why did it hurt so much to see their child?

He had tried to convince his emotional side that it was merely because he had suddenly found out that he had missed eight years of his own child's life, but that wasn't it. He missed Kimberly, he missed seeing her, being with her and he knew that if he had been with her these years would not have been so hard on her. She would not have hardened her heart to everyone around her. She would be the loving person that he remembered and that he knew was still buried under the false front of bravery. He knew that he could reach her, even if no one else was able to anymore. She still had a soft spot for him, that much was obvious from last night.

He was not accusing Kim of not being brave; he knew that was the furthest from the truth, but she had had to come up with this front to put up in front of everyone. To make them think that she was all right and that there was nothing wrong with her. He knew that she could not be dealing with this well and although she had Andros, he also knew that Andros was only her friend. Otherwise, Andros would have beat Jason's ass for talking about him kissing Kim all those years ago. He and Andros had been friends long enough for him to know that much about him. No one talked about his girlfriend being with other people, it just didnt' work for him.

It did bother him to know that Andros was spending so many nights with Kimberly when it was something he had wanted for years. He had managed to clamp his mouth shut when he saw where they had been living for the last few months, but now, it the silence of his room he had nothing to keep him from thinking about it. It was such close quarters, even for two trained rangers and he honestly doubted that everything had been platonic between them. Kim had this nice streak in her that made almost any guy weak in the knees around her. Everything that Jason had revealed to him after they got together, let him know what he had in his arms. Let him know just how precious she was and for years he had blamed himself for the break-up.

He knew that he hadn't caused it, everyone knew that, but they also knew that Kim had to have a reason. Tommy had been the one guy that she was head over heels for. She didn't act like this with anyone else, she didn't care so much, especially when everyone came with Tommy. She loved him, she was willing to give up anything from him and almost did. He couldn't believe that she had left him for their child and then after she had a miscarriage came back to Angel Grove and their one night together, after he saved her at Murianthius gave them the little girl that was lying asleep in the next room. His head couldn't stop spinning at that thought, that they had a child.

Everyone had expected the two of them to be together, forever. From the day that he called her beautiful to the day that he had gotten the letter in the mail, everyone had seen them going down a path that was much more fulfilling. The path that they wound up on careened them into a dead end and a lost cause. He had never imagined that this day would come, no one had, except maybe Trini and Jason. They knew everything that had happened over the last few years, but it was just so hard to deal with the reality. That was what kept him up, not the fact that he suddenly was responsible for taking care of someone else.

"Daddy," Jenny murmured as she walked into the room and saw Tommy sitting on the edge of the bed and walked over to him. She had seen Andros like that before, but it was kinda rare. He usually was able to sleep at night.

"Hey," Tommy said as he looked up at the clock and saw that it was five o'clock in the morning. He could not believe that he had sat up all night, but his brain wouldn't stop turning. He had never been able to sleep when he was thinking about Kim. He had been thinking about Kim more in the last few hours than he had in years. It was amazing that he could manage this and go without any sleep. He had always been known for needing more sleep than the rest of the rangers.

"I had a bad dream," Jenny said as she walked over to him and she placed her arms around him and he gave her a hug back. He had experienced these types of things from Kimberly and it scared him that their daughter was the same. She didn't try to take a deep breath and figure it out, but instead came running to him.

"What happened?" Tommy asked as he picked her up and Jenny clung to him, even though he had just met her the day before. "Come on, it can't be that bad."

"Mama was…where she lives blew up…" Jenny said as Tommy's hug loosened and he tried to press that image to the back of his mind. Their daughter had been around the ranger world far too much and it was time that she became a normal child and got to do normal things. "Daddy…"

"I'll go check on her," Tommy said as Jenny just threw her arms around him and held him in place. "I don't even have to leave the house, Jenny. Just let me go for a couple of minutes."

"No Daddy," Jenny said as Tommy just picked her up and started walking downstairs. She was so little that it was not a problem for her, hell Kim still was easy to pick up and tote anywhere he pleased. "Daddy, I don't want Mama to live there anymore."

"Neither do I Jenny. Why don't we try to talk to her about all of this?" Tommy said as Jenny nodded as Tommy propped open the door and she looked back at him. He couldn't believe that Jenny was this worried, but she had seen far too much as an eight year old. She couldn't continue to live like this and he needed to put a stop to it.

"Mama isn't going to like this," Jenny said as Tommy smiled and held her even closer.

"Yeah, but she likes you better than me right now and you are going to have to tell her," Tommy said as Jenny looked up at the screens that had lit up.

"What do you want Tommy?" Kim asked as Jenny walked over to the screen and pulled herself up to where she was centered on the screen and Kim couldn't help but laugh as Tommy gently chuckled in the background.

"Daddy and I think you should come back and live here, with him," Jenny said as Kim coughed and Tommy spit out the water that he had just taken a drink of and Andros laughed in the background.

"Hold on just a second Jenny, I didn't say that," Tommy said, being the first to recover his voice as he pulled the girl away from the screen where she was smiling, as Andros began to truly laugh in earnest.

"You are good," Andros said as Kim swatted at him and he laughed as the girl punched in the teleportation codes for the both of them and they went away, leaving Kim and Tommy alone to face each other.

"Jenny!" Kim practically roared as Tommy just shook his head as he heard the door click locked above him.

"I can't leave, so we might as well talk, for a little while Kim. It's what she wants," Tommy said as he let out a yawn and then felt himself being teleported out of the room and looked around as he landed in his kitchen.

"I don't want to talk," Kim muttered as the tears fell down her cheeks and she turned off the screen. She didn't have the heart right now. This was the worst that she had slept in ages and it was because of seeing Tommy. It was because she knew what was next, it was because she still loved him.

"Why push me away, Kimberly? Why push me away?" Tommy muttered as he sat down at the kitchen table and covered his face. He didn't really care where Jenny was right now or if she walked in right now. Kim had pushed him away and that hurt him more than anything else.

---------------

"What was the point of that?" Andros asked as he landed next to Jenny and she smiled.

"Mama and Daddy have to talk now," Jenny said as Andros smiled down at the little girl. She forgot that the same thing that she could use to get them out, they could use against each other.

"I hope they do, Jenny," Andros said as the little girl looked up at him, confused.

"Why wouldn't they talk?" Jenny asked as Andros looked over at her and she began to cry. "I just want them to be together."

"You aren't the only one, Jenny," Andros said as he picked the little girl up and gave her a long hug as she sobbed. "I hope that you will take care of them. You may be the only thing to get them back together."

"Why did they break up?" Jenny asked as Andros looked down at the ground and Jenny glared at him. "You know, tell me."

"They should tell you, not me," Andros said as Jenny just shook her head. She was tired of no one telling her why she didn't have a father and now that she had finally met him, no one would tell him why he was away when he wanted her. What had happened? They all knew she was far too smart for her own good, but Andros now had to explain to Kim that she had better tell her daughter or the truth or he was not going to have any other choice, but to tell her.

"They won't," Jenny said as Andros looked away and the little girl punched him one hard time.

"Jenny, just stop. There is not much that I can do and I've tried everything in my power to get them back together. You are going to have to shove them back into it, because I can't anymore. No one else can do this and believe me all of us have tried it. Even Jason and Trini and they can't get them back together. They may listen to you," Andros said as Jenny merely let go of him and slid down his body and began to stalk away, towards her father's house. "Where are you going? Your mother will kill me if I don't know where you are going!"

"Back to Daddy's house. I'm going to make them talk," Jenny said as she walked on and Andros soon caught up with her as she stalked on and Andros smiled at her little deliberate steps. "Daddy! Daddy open up!"

"I got it, Jenny," Andros said as he broke open the door and the two of them walked into the kitchen, where Tommy was still sitting at the table, but now he was dead to the world. "Let your daddy sleep, he has enough on his mind."

"Okay, but when he wakes up…he's mine," Jenny said as she stalked up the stairs and Andros held in the silent laughter as she slammed the door to her room and Tommy looked up.

"You just missed your daughter ranting at you," Andros whispered as Tommy just looked over at him and shook his head. "She teleported you out, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did and she didn't even think about it for longer than a couple of seconds. She doesn't want to face me, I don't know why she won't talk to me. I told her that I'm fine with us just being friends. What else was I supposed to say Andros? That I want to take her to her bedroom and make passionate love to her until she screams out my name?" Tommy asked as Andros began to chuckle.

"It wouldn't hurt to try, maybe she would come around to that sort of thing," Andros said as Tommy just shook his head. Kim would definitely chunk him out on his ass then and they both knew it. "Tommy, all I am saying is that she still loves you, you should try anything to get her back."

"She won't look at me, Andros. She won't be with me anymore and we both know it. I might as well kiss you and hope that she will feel it through you, somehow," Tommy said as he shuddered and so did Andros at the thought. "Let's just say that I never said that."

"Never will be brought up again," Andros said as Tommy walked over to the floor and then opened the door.

"Go back there and make it to where she can't transport me anywhere," Tommy said as Andros smiled and then transported himself away before he could say anything else. He was determined to have a conversation with her, even if it meant locking himself in the Command Center for hours on end. She was going to talk to them, they had to get this straightened out, now.


	8. Chapter 8

Kimberly sat down at her desk and hid her face. She knew that she would have to face Tommy, if not for herself, for their daughter, because it was the very least that she could do. The question really was why was she avoiding Tommy? The truth had been put out there between them; he had accepted that they couldn't be together and that they would just have to be friends. Well, on second thought, he had agreed, not accepted what was going on. That was what bothered her the most. He still had hope; he still knew that she was not over him, in any way.

Everything that Andros said was true. She knew it, they all knew that it was true, no matter what she tried to push it off as; she knew that the knots in her stomach were not from the monsters. She still loved him, that was why facing him was impossible. She knew that Tommy was the one man that she wanted, more than anything in this world. She had to push him away though, he had to be kept safe from this world and this was the only way. She just had to hold him off, for everyone's sake, even if it made her completely miserable.

"Kimberly," Tommy said as he walked down into his Command Center and tapped on the screen. He knew that he had to get her attention as soon as possible; it was for both of their sakes. Jenny was determined to get them to talk; he had to do this for her. This was exactly what their daughter deserved, even if she didn't want to give it to her.

"Go away, Tommy," Kim said as she felt herself land in Tommy's command center and she looked over at him. He looked just as shocked as she was that she had now landed in the middle of his home.

"I can't believe that he did that," Tommy muttered as Kim glared over at him and he just shrugged his shoulders, what else could he do, but say that. There was really nothing else that he could say to explain it that would not get him in a world of trouble.

"Who is he?" Kim asked as Tommy looked away. She could imagine who it might be, but she wanted Tommy to deny it, completely. She wanted it to be someone that could not manage to shut down all forms of transport that she now regularly used.

"Andros," Tommy said as Kimberly groaned. She did not want to hear that. She was sure that he had disabled every signal teleportation module that she could get to so that the two of them would talk. "Kim, Jenny desperately wants us to talk. What are you going to do to stop that? How are you going to tell her that you won't even look at me much less have a real conversation with me? She's not going to take no for an answer, she's got a stubborn streak in her. And I think we both know exactly where that came from, sweetie."

"Tommy, I don't really have much of a choice. I want you to have a normal life," Kim said as Tommy just shook his head and stood up from his chair to pace. There was not much more that he could do but that right now. Kim was not going to just take him back in her arms, considering the ice cold welcoming he had gotten from her, except for the one hug she had given him.

"And I want our child to have a family, not just you or me. We're going to make her choose that if you keep on pushing me away. Kim, I just want for you to be happy, even if it isn't with me. I want you to have someone, you deserve someone. You shouldn't be alone for the rest of your life," Tommy said as Kim just shook her head. He didn't know what this was putting her through. Every time she looked at him, she knew that she was that much closer to breaking. She could not do that, though. She had to stay strong, somehow.

"And I want you, but I can't do this to you. You deserve a life of freedom, not one with constant responsibilities," Kim said as Tommy threw both of his arms up in the air and Kim just looked over at him. She was absolutely crazy to keep asking this of him. He could not continue to give her up and he was sure that she was not going to last much longer either. He could see that much in her eyes, even if he couldn't make out much else.

"It should be my choice Kimberly, not yours. You said all I needed was one more team, guess what, I'm pretty damn close to have that one more time and becoming one of you. Kim, either way, I don't think that you have much of a choice. I'm going to wind up with you one way or another. We might as well get used to the idea," Tommy said as Kim let out the longest sigh she had in ages, as she was frustrated with the situation. She did not want another person reaffirming what she had known all along, that she was going to bring Tommy into this mess, no matter what.

"I am not letting you do this!" Kim yelled as Tommy just shook his head and walked over to her and quickly kissed her and she pulled away from him, completely shocked. She could still feel the spark from all those years ago and she was scared to death of what that was going to do. "Tommy, no…Tommy I can't."

"You can't? Not you won't," Tommy said as Kim looked away from him. She did not want to hear any more, she did not want for him to say what she was thinking. "Tell me that you don't love me now and I'll leave you, I'll never ask you again. I'll just want to see Jenny on the weekends or whenever she wants."

"I…I…I do…I can't love you," Kim said as Tommy just grabbed her and held her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

"So you do, Kimberly please don't do this," Tommy said as he begged and she just looked away from him, tears streaming down her face. "I love you and I never quit loving you. I'll do anything, even stay away from being a ranger if I can just have you."

"If you're with me, then you'll be a ranger Tommy. There is no avoiding it, our powers together are far too strong. I have tried to find a way around it, but I haven't found it. Tommy, if I could have you without any problems, I wouldn't second guess it, but I have to right now. You mean too much to me and I want to know that if I ever die that Jenny will have someone. Just do that for me, Tommy," Kim pleaded as he captured her mouth again and she tried to tug away, but quickly stopped as Tommy pulled her even closer.

"I can't live without you, Kim and you can't tell me that you want to live without me. You wouldn't let me do this," Tommy said as Kim felt his hands trembling as he brushed back her hair. "Please, Kimberly, don't do this baby."

"Friends is all we can ever be, Tommy," Kim said as she raised her arm and sent out a rough pulse towards Tommy, knocking him out. "I'm so sorry to have to do this to you."

"Kimberly Ann Hart," Andros scolded as she stalked back into the center and then slammed the door to her room shut. "What have you done?"

"I knocked him out, Andros. He kissed me, he told me that he loved me, he would take me back, today. I can't continue to do this Tommy. I have to get away from him, Andros. I have to let him have a life without me from now on," Kim said as she was shaking and Andros walked in and wrapped her up in a strong hug. "I love him so much, why does this have to be so hard."

"Because you think that you have to protect him. He's a grown man and the both of you have the right to be happy. Why make him so miserable?" Andros asked as Kim said just shuddered. "You love him, Kimberly. He's the only man that you've ever loved and will ever love. We both know that. Take him back and be happy and forget the consequences. It'll be so much better for the two of you to be together, especially for Jenny. She is your daughter and his as well."

"Don't tell me that, I think it enough myself. I can't do this to him. He deserves a life," Kim said as Andros held her closely and she sobbed.

"So do you, Kim and you've hurt more than just yourself by staying away from him. Think about Jenny, think about the others and think about everything that you have deprived yourself of. You deserve to get that life back," Andros said as Kim tried to calm herself down, but only wound up crying herself to sleep in his arms.

He had never thought that Kim was going to be like this twice within the span of a couple of days. However, this was what Tommy did to her. He knew that before they had schemed to get them to meet back up. He, however, was now seeing everything that was wrong with their plan. They had never thought that she would be able to hold herself back from him. She, however, was determined, which was something that they all hated to hear about this situation.


	9. Chapter 9

"We've got to do something," Andros said as he sat in Jason and Trini's kitchen, early the next morning. He knew that Kim would not wake up for a couple more hours. It was time that the big guns be brought in and if Jason and Trini couldn't help, then no one could help them. He knew just how miserable this was making all three of them and he might be the only one that could do something about it.

"I agree," Trini said as she sipped on some tea and just shook her head. She couldn't believe that he had come here for help. "But Andros, I know that this isn't going to be easy and I don't have the emotional depth to pull this off. Kim would try to say something about how she doesn't really like him and I would lose my mind when I let loose on her. I can't risk it right now. I've already had to deal with this idiot right here and that was bad enough."

"But what will we do?" Andros asked as Jason stood up and walked over to the phone.

"I will take care of it. Don't you think that locking them in a room together will make them realize?" Jason suggested as Andros shook his head no. He had already tried that one and Kimberly had still escaped. She had abilities that could not be held in by most things that would hold normal rangers.

"Kim is likely to knock him out again. I actually don't know if he has woken up, yet," Andros said as Jason just shook his head. He couldn't believe that Kim was resorting to that to get away from Tommy.

"I think I might be able to keep her from doing that. Tommy can be brought up to even in no time and she doesn't want that," Jason said as Andros smiled and Trini just shook her head. She knew that making Kim think that Tommy was about to become a permanent ranger might make her talk to him, but she didn't think it wise to do that.

"I don't know if we should threaten that sort of harm. They both are under a lot of stress to make things right. I know that Kimberly's view of right is screwing all of us over, but what can we do? She's been desperate to keep Tommy out of this, just in case something ever happens. She doesn't want to risk Jenny not having any parents and I can understand that," Trini said as Kimberly teleported into their house and was surprised to see Andros there. She had thought that he had gone to check on Tommy, but she was obviously wrong.

"Guys, I need some help," Kim said as they all looked over at her, wondering what type of help she was going to ask for. They could all hope that it would be with Tommy, but the last few days had taught them that that would be foolishly optimistic to even consider that as a possibility.

"What sort of help, Kim?" Jason asked as Kimberly held out a picture and then walked away from all of them. "He's been captured?"

"Yeah. He would have fought them off if I hadn't knocked him out. I was so stupid to do that," Kim said as Andros walked over and gave her a hug. "I have the gems that he had collected and there are some teenagers that would be fairly receptive to them living in Reefside. The problem is that we are going to have to convince them that the risks are definitely worth it all."

"I don't think that you'll have a problem there, little bit," Andros said as Kim nodded and then walked over to the nearest teleportation portal she had made and disappeared. "Well, there is nothing like a rescue mission to get the two of them back together."

"Yeah, let's just hope that she doesn't throw three teenagers into the fire without explaining any of it to them," Jason said as Trini just looked over at him.

"You know that is exactly what she is about to do," Trini said as Jason grabbed his jacket and then pulled her off the couch.

"Come on, we have to get up there, just in case," Jason said as Trini nodded and waddled over to get her coat as well. She completely agreed with what he had said.

-----------

"Hello, are you Conner McKnight?" Kim asked as she walked up to the teenager and he stood there in shock. He had never had a girl approach him before and all his friends were giving him smiles.

"Yeah, who are you?" Conner asked as Kim grabbed his hand and dragged him off, while he just looked back at his friends and smiled. He was certain that this was going to be special.

"No time. Do you know Kira Ford and Ethan James?" Kim asked as she continued dragging him behind her and he just looked at her. Did she even know which circles he ran in?

"Yeah, but only by association, they aren't my friends," Conner said as Kim looked over at him and then slung him into a closet and she quickly followed. "Uh, I don't know you that well…"

"Hold your horses Romeo, I'm about ten years older than you and the only reason I am here is because I have to save the one man I love. So don't even think about it," Kim said as Conner removed his hands from around her and he gave her a confused look.

"Save the one man you love and you throw me into a closet?" Conner asked as Kimberly wheeled on him and slammed him back against the wall.

"Be a good boy and you might get a kiss," Kim said as he just shook and she stepped away. "Now, I have to find them and if you leave this closet, you'll get nothing except an ass whooping."

"By you that wouldn't be a problem," Conner said as Kim glared at him and he felt something radiate off her, but he had absolutely no clue what that might be.

"Watch it or you'll have a voice that is a few octaves higher," Kim said as she exited the closet and began looking around for the other two.

"Who the hell are you?" Kira asked as this woman grabbed her and pulled her away from her audience. To make it even worse, she had Ethan with her, who was the geek of the school.

"No time to explain," Kim said as she slung them into the closet that she had left Conner in and he looked at the other two, curiously scared about all of this.

"I was not expecting this," Conner said as Kim just shook her head and held out her watch which projected a beam around them and they found themselves standing in the underground room, completely confused as Kimberly landed only feet from them.

"Andros," Kim said as Andros walked out and over to them, carrying the three gems, which had already begun twitching. "How right was I?"

"Pretty right, if these things are any indication," Andros said as they flew out of her hand and Kimberly smiled as each teenager caught one.

"Well, that solves it, welcome to the club," Kim said as Jenny stumbled down the stairs and threw her arms around Andros as she began crying.

"Where's Daddy?" Jenny cried as Andros held her close and Kim looked over at the two of them.

"Look, I need help to get Tommy back, for the both of us," Kim said as she flipped open her own morpher and morphed. "I'm the red crane, I have no clue what you might be when and if you morph, but I just ask you to do this once. You can leave then if you want."

"Do I still get a kiss out of that?" Conner asked as Kim just looked over at him and Andros's eyes widened. What the hell had Kim promised the boy that might get him killed by Tommy.

"Only my Daddy can kiss her," Jenny retorted as she glared up at the boy and he couldn't help but laugh.

"I wouldn't say that," Andros said as he caught the eight year old before she punched him.

"Who's her dad?" Conner asked, as none of them knew Dr. O's first name.

"Tommy Oliver," Kim said as all three of them promptly dropped their morphers from shock. "I know that he is a teacher of yours, so maybe you'll be willing to help me here."

"I won't be getting that kiss after all," Conner said, with certainty, as he was not going to try to go up against Dr. O, that was suicide. "So what do we have to do?"

"Save him, what else is there to do?" Kim said as they just looked at her and could not believe what they were hearing. "I'm not strong enough on my own, I need some help to get to him."

"This coming from the woman that continues to push him away," Andros muttered as Kim glared over at him and Jenny just looked up at the two of them.

"I won't do that anymore Andros, I promise," Kim said as tears streamed down her face and Jenny just looked up at her.

"It'll be all right Mama," Jenny said as she gave Kim a hug and Kim wrapped her up as tight as she could.

"Yeah it will, if only I can get your daddy back," Kim said as she stood up and faced them. "I know he's your teacher, but if I don't get him back, all hell is going to break loose."

"We'll help," Kira said as the other two just nodded. They could see the severity of the situation, even if they didn't know the woman asking for their help.

"Then let's go," Kim said as the three teenagers just stared at her as she pulled all of them with her and they disappeared.

--------------

"When is the calvary going to arrive?" Mesogogg asked as Tommy woke up and looked around at everything that was going on around him.

"What did you do to Jenny?" Tommy asked as he looked over at Mesogogg, who was shocked that there was someone else in his house.

"I did nothing to her, I only wanted you," Mesogogg said as he heard a loud boom outside the door. "I guess we have company."

"Like that scares me," Tommy said as the door was blasted down and four rangers walked into the room. "Kimberly…"

"Funny that you should say her name first, the woman you want to be your bitch," Mesogogg said as Kimberly slung him to the ground and began un-strapping Tommy as quickly as she could, the new rangers were having to fight the tryannadrones with everything they had, but she knew that time was not on their side.

"Are you okay?" Kim asked as she looked at his face and he nodded as he grabbed the black gem next to him. Kim then looked at it and then at him. She tried to take it away, but found that he almost couldn't let it go. "We have to get out of here."

"I know," Tommy said as he stood up and quickly wrapped her up as Mesogogg sent a violent shock towards them.

"Tommy, why'd you do that?" Kim asked as she looked up at him and saw the pain in his eyes.

"Let's just get out of here," Tommy said as they all went away and landed in Reefside. "You know that they're going to follow us."

"Yeah," Kim said just in time to find herself pushed behind Tommy as Mesogogg sent a ray directly at them and Tommy pulled out his last line of defense, the gem that he had grabbed as a last ditch attempt. He then vanished from sight with a rather violent explosion.


	10. Chapter 10

"Tommy!" Kimberly yelled as the three young rangers grabbed her and held her back. They did not want her to do something that would get her killed. They were afraid that they couldn't stand to lose two peopel in one day. "Tommy!"

"Finally, the end of Thomas Oliver," Mesogogg said as Kimberly finally broke free of the younger rangers and charged at Mesogogg, fully intent to kill him. He had killed Tommy and he was going to soon join the man that she loved as soon as she could manage it.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Tommy's voice said as he materialized in front of all of them as Kimberly slapped Mesogogg to the ground, as Elsa just chuckled, before she found herself flying into the nearest wall. The red ranger was ready to kill for whatever they had done to Tommy. "Let's get home, they're not worth it."

"Not worth it?" Kim asked as she started running towards Zeltrax, but Tommy scooped her up as quickly as he could. He did not want for her to do anything that she would regret in the morning. "They tried to come after you…"

"Kim, there will be another day when you can do that," Tommy said as his arms tightened even more and she felt herself being taken away.

"How'd you do that?" Kim asked as they landed in the Command Center and she just stared at him. She thought that only her and Andros were able to will themselves to a place. "No, Tommy, you can't have become one of us."

"Looks like I have, Kim," Tommy said as he pulled down her mask and gently cupped her face. "Please don't run away from me."

"I have to go now," Kim said as she disappeared and Tommy just stared at where she had been.

"She promised!" Jenny shrieked as Tommy picked her up and gave her a hug.

"Stay here, Andros," Tommy said as he tried to calm Jenny down. "Hey, it's okay. I'm going to go talk to her, as soon as I figure out where she is."

"You should be able to find her," Andros said as the other rangers landed and looked around. "I'll take care of them and her. You go find Kim, we're going to be in a world of trouble if you can't do something to get things to change."

"Stay with Andros," Tommy said as Jenny would not let go of him. "Come on, stay with him. I have to go find your mama."

"I thought she promised that she'd be with him if she could just get him back," Conner said as Tommy disappeared in a flash of light.

"She didn't think that it would make him become a ranger, now he's stuck, with us. This is the last thing in the world that she wanted," Andros said as Conner just looked at them. They could not believe what he was saying.

"Stuck, you can become stuck?" Conner asked, almost outraged. He had never heard of anything like this before and if he had known it, he wouldn't have been all right with helping get Dr. O back. He did not want to have this life forever.

"When you've had as many or as strong of powers as the three of us have had. Kim was not always the red crane, she began as the pink crane and as her powers increased the shade became darker, until she became a red ranger," Andros said as Jenny just clung to him, she was scared to death that the two of them were never going to get back together. "You won't have to worry about it, unless you've been doing this for about ten years."

"Okay," Conner said as they looked at Andros in shock.

"Sit, I'll explain it all to you," Andros said as they just did what he said. They did not think it wise to question him at all.

------------

"Kimberly!" Tommy yelled as he walked around the room, trying to find her. He was thoroughly pissed off right now. "Kimberly Hart!"

"Leave me alone Tommy, I wasn't able to protect you," Kim said as he walked towards her voice and found her crying on her bed.

"I didn't ask you to protect me, come here," Tommy coaxed as Kim just gripped her bed. The last time that he had said something like that to her, she had wound up pregnant.

"The last time I did, I wound up pregnant," Kim said as Tommy looked at her and then walked over and sat down next to her.

"I wouldn't mind if that happened again," Tommy said as he gave her a kiss and she couldn't help but pull away at first. "Kim, please just talk to me. That is all that I ask of you."

"Why won't you just go on about your life without me?" Kim asked as her body shivered as he ran his fingers through her hair and then gently wiped away her tears. "Don't, please, don't."

"Because I can't live without you," Tommy said as she caved and then threw her arms around him as he pulled her close.

"Tommy," Kim cried as she pushed him down on the bed and kissed him, knowing that she had missed too many years with this man.

"Kim…Kim hold on," Tommy said as he managed to pull away from her and looked her in the eyes. "We…we don't need to do this just to do it. We need to actually be…want to be back together."

"I want it Tommy," Kim whispered before pushing him back against the bed and silencing him.

---------

"Either they are killing each other or…" Andros muttered as the teenagers looked over at him and Jenny gave him a confused look. It had been a couple of hours since Tommy had left and he was still hesitant to return to the space ship. He did not want to chance walking into what was going on.

"I vote for fu…" Conner said as Kira slapped her hand over his mouth and Jenny looked at the two of them.

"Little girl in the room, Conner," Kira said, angrily as Andros smiled at the two of them.

"I have to get going soon, the space station needs someone supervising it at all times," Andros said as Conner gave him a confused look. "We have a program that will auto pilot it for only so long. If that ship were to go into evil hands, I would never be able to get Kim off my backside about it. Jenny, do you want to come with me?"

"No," Jenny said, honestly, as Andros nodded his head that he understood.

"Take her to stay with Hayley, tell her that Kim or Tommy will come get her sometime in the morning," Andros said as Jenny walked over to Kira and grabbed her hand. "I have got to get back to the ship."

"I hope that they're done," Conner said as Andros nodded his head that he agreed. He certainly did not want to have to deal with either type of yelling that could be going on.

-------------

"It's quiet, I guess that's a good thing," Andros said as he landed on the ship and looked around the control room. He had decided that it was best to not go directly to the sleeping quarters. They had decided when they first started working together that they were going to need more space on the ship for operational things and thus gave up individual bedrooms. Now Andros wished that he had not talked her into that idea. "Kim! Tommy!"

"Um…" Kim moaned as she rolled over, having heard her name. "We've got to get up, Tommy."

"Why?" Tommy asked as he looked over at her and smiled. "I don't think that Andros would be stupid enough to come in."

"But Jenny might be and I don't want her to see us like this. She's still too young to understand it," Kim said as Tommy hauled himself out from under her and began walking around, picking up his clothes.

"Do you see my underwear?" Tommy asked as Kim shook her head no and Tommy let out a frustrated sigh. "We had this problem last time, too."

"Except that Jason was beating on the door, demanding that we show our faces so that they would know we didn't kill each other," Kim said as Andros knocked on the door and Kim jumped as she spun around, her eyes wide.

"Hey, are you two all right?" Andros asked through the door as he was not going to walk in unless he was invited.

"We're fine, Andros," Kim said, calmly, as Tommy zipped up her jeans and buttoned them for her, as he was already dressed. "How are they?"

"They're fine, but they're worried about how the two of you just fled," Andros said as he tentatively pushed the door open and saw the two of them jump away from each other. "So, Conner was right on his hunch."

"How long did you wait with them?" Tommy asked, rubbing the back of his neck, worried about what he was going to have to deal with when he went to school the next day.

"About two hours," Andros said as he forced back a smile. "They dealt with it pretty well, considering."

"Please tell me that they don't know," Kim managed to say as Andros burst out laughing. "Andros…"

"I would say that they wouldn't be able to tell for sure, but that hickey on your neck isn't helping you any," Andros said, rubbing a finger over it and Kim automatically jumped away. "I'm not going to say anything to the others though, that's your call, but you need to be careful. Jenny doesn't need to have her hopes brought up, just for the two of you to do something stupid like break up again."

"I promise I will not do that, again," Kim said with a smile as Tommy gave her a hug and she looked up at him and gave him a kiss.

"I'm glad to hear it. If you ever put that child through the hell that she has had to deal with over the last few weeks, you are dead Ms. Hart," Andros said as Kim nodded. She knew that what she had been doing was cruel to Jenny, hell they all knew it, but she had to have some space from Tommy. She was not ready for the re-commitment and probably would not have been for several more weeks if Tommy had not been captured. She had gone into overdrive then, knowing she could lose him without ever making things right. She might have been a royal bitch these last few weeks, but there was not much that she could do about that now. She would just have to make up for it in the best way that she could and if that meant spending more time with Tommy than she had in years, she would, because they needed it and their little girl needed it.


	11. Chapter 11

"Morning," Tommy whispered as Kim rolled over to face him, with her eyes sleepily opening. She had not slept this good in a very long time. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, do you have to be anywhere today?" Kim asked as Tommy shook his head no, thankful that it was the weekend and he had a couple of days off of work. He didn't know what he would do if he had to pull himself out of bed and away from her right now. "That's good, because I need to give you a tour this place and your new uniform."

"The last uniform I'll ever wear," Tommy muttered as Kim barely nodded her head that that was the truth. He would never change colors again; he would never suddenly be told that he was now the fluorescent orange ranger. He was the white ranger and he would stay that way until his dying day.

"Who did Jenny stay with last night?" Kim asked as Tommy shrugged his shoulders. He was not exactly sure, although he was positive that Andros had told them who it was the night before, although the two of them had been concentrating on other things.

"Don't worry, we'll go get her in a little while," Tommy said as Kim merely managed to nod. She never liked when she had to leave Jenny somewhere, but they had gotten a little bit carried away last night and it had been in all of their best interests for her to just stay with their friends.

"Yeah," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her.

"Are you sure that you want to be going this fast?" Tommy asked as Kimberly looked over at him. She didn't really have a choice about it now, she had made her choice last night and she just had to live with it and so did Tommy.

"I think it's a little bit late to ask that Tommy," Kim said as Tommy smiled over at her and then gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she gladly accepted from him.

"I was just making sure," Tommy said as Kim gave him a grateful smile as they walked in to see Andros curled up on the floor. Kim had completely forgotten about the fact that that was his room as well as her own.

"Andros, wake up," Kim said as she squatted down next to him and gently shook his shoulder and he quietly looked up at her. "Good morning, sunshine."

"Don't you dare call me sunshine," Andros muttered as he pushed himself to his feet and looked over at the two of them. "You know we are going to have to make some better sleeping arrangements after last night."

"I know, but we'll work on that while he goes to work," Kim said as Tommy looked down at her. He did not see how he was going to continue to work now that he was a permanent ranger. He was sure that it was going to be much more difficult than anything he had ever done before. "You have to keep it up for a little while, until we can inform the government that there is another permanent ranger and they can set up what looks like a job for you."

"Okay," Tommy said as Andros and Kim began working on various things and he just looked between the two of them.

"The government does give you what amounts to be a joke of a paycheck, so you may want to find something else that you can do as well," Andros said as Tommy nodded and then went to sit down. He was not sure what to think right now, other than that they had never been in this exact situation before.

"You'll be fine, Tommy," Kim said as she sat down next to him and he nodded. "Andros, I'm going to go get Jenny, so why don't you fill him in some more?"

"Okay," Andros managed to say as Kim got up and the suddenly disappeared. "I know you don't want to hear this from me, but we really don't have much of a choice about it."

"So what are my responsibilities?" Tommy asked as Andros looked over at him.

"Kim will decide that more than I will, I have a feeling she's not going to want you to do too much, but that won't last long. You are the one man that she wants to have do all of this and not do all of this," Andros said as Tommy just looked at him. "You're a ranger, she knows what you can do, just as well as I do, but we have to figure out the best way to use you, considering everything else that has happened."

"Is there a way to undo being a permanent ranger?" Tommy asked and Andros nodded his head that there was indeed a way, but it was something that they didn't often talk about. Neither of them wanted to get their hopes up about something that would not come true. They had already been told that they couldn't go and do the mission that would be needed. There was more of a need for them here than anywhere else. "What is it?"

"It's a mission to a planet that we haven't even been allowed to hear the name of to get an unlimited amount of powers for the earth to use so that there would not be a need for us to be rangers any longer. The government discovered this planet months ago, but they won't reveal it to us, unless we prove that we have enough protection on earth and that they will be able to sustain themselves while we go and get the powers that are needed. We haven't been able to do that with the last couple of teams and I doubt that Kim will even try it with this one," Andros said as they heard something plop down in the neighboring room.

"Wouldn't it be worth trying?" Tommy asked looking back at the door, figuring that he had a few more minutes before Kim would walk in and break up this conversation.

"It's not worth getting her hopes up again for it and then having them dashed again," Andros said as Jenny ran into the room and attacked Andros as Kim came trailing in after her. She had just given up on the idea of convincing Jenny to get some more rest. Once the child was awake, she was wired. "Hey…you act like you've missed me."

"You were supposed to come tell me if Mama and Daddy were getting along!" Jenny said adamantly, as Andros clamped his mouth shut for a moment, to prevent himself from saying what was on his mind.

"They are fine, Jenny and you were probably asleep by that time anyway," Andros said as Jenny just looked at him, as Kim and Tommy let out a sigh of relief. They were glad that Andros had not said how well they were getting along, because Jenny was very likely to repeat that to people that didn't need to hear about it. "What do you want to do today?"

"Stay with Mama and Daddy," Jenny said as Andros looked over at the two of them, thinking that they certainly wanted some more time alone, but he doubted if the little girl would allow that to happen.

"Andros, take a day to yourself," Kim said as Andros nodded and then was gone in a shimmer as Jenny ran over to her parent and gave them both happy hugs. She was so thankful that they were together again, but she didn't know what was ahead. None of them really did.


	12. Chapter 12

"Tommy, are you okay?" Kim asked as she walked up to him and he just shook his head. He had had this horrible feeling about what was going on here. He hadn't felt like this in ages, but for some reason he felt like it today. Jenny was playing on the merry-go round with a couple of little girls that were also at the park, but he had a feeling that none of this would last. Something was about to crash in on their happiness and he didn't want to say that Kim. He wanted for her to be able to be all right. "What's wrong?"

"I just have a bad feeling about all of this Kim," Tommy said as she looked over at him and he reached out and held her hand. "I feel like everything is about to crash down around us."

"Yeah, I feel the same," Kim said as Tommy looked up to the sky and she looked over at him, wondering what he was thinking. She could tell that whatever it was, was not something that she wanted to hear, but it was something that she would have to deal with. "What is it?"

"What have we gotten ourselves into Kim?" Tommy asked as Kim looked over at him, not quite following what he was talking about. She was sure that it made sense on some subconscious level, but right now she was thinking in a very straightforward fashion. "They won't let us go after the power that would free us. What have we gotten ourselves into?"

"Don't worry, Andros and I have been planning for an attempt for the last few years. It became obvious to the two of us that I, at the very least, could not keep sacrificing my life like this in order to save the world. We planned that we would go on the mission as soon as we had a stable ranger team on Earth and after we get those three trained, we should be good to go," Kim said as her eyes drifted towards Jenny, who was now climbing on the jungle gym.

"Does that we include me or just the two of you?" Tommy asked as there was a clap of thunder in the bright sky and Kim quickly got to her feet and started heading towards the jungle gym, leaving Tommy confused. "Kim…"

"We have to leave…" Kim called back to him as Jenny had dropped from the monkey bars and was now trying to find her way to Kim, amongst the kids that were still playing.

"Mommy!" Jenny cried as she couldn't see Kim, but as she heard the second clap of thunder she became more worried, as the other kids were being picked up by their parents and taken away. They didn't like the eerie feeling that this weather was bringing and Kim didn't like it for other reasons. She knew what was coming and she had to stop it.

"You have a beautiful child, Kimberly," Mesogogg said as he landed next to Jenny and in a moment both Kim and Tommy knew what was going to happen. There was no way she could get out of reach in the next few seconds and no way that they could reach her as well, even though Tommy was now running at a full sprint and Kim was also running towards them, trying to get Jenny out of the way, but the child was terrified.

"Leave her out of this," Tommy said, menacingly, as Mesogogg looked over at him and sneered. He then reached for the girl's hand and Jenny tried to pull away, but he had a firm grip on her.

"Why don't you come with Uncle Mesogogg for a little while?" Mesogogg said as Jenny continued to try to scramble away from him, but she couldn't. Tommy knew that if she could just hold out for a few more moments, that he would plow down Mesogogg and Kim could get Jenny out of the way. "Good bye now."

"No!" Tommy yelled as he had been sailing through the air towards Mesogogg and Kim had been about to reach for Jenny, but all they did was go through air.

"No…" Kim muttered as she stared at where her child had been moments before and then fell to her knees as Tommy made his way over to her and pulled her in tight. "This can't be happening…"

"We'll get her back, don't worry," Tommy whispered as he looked around and saw that some of the families were starting to emerge and many of them were giving them sympathetic, yet grateful looks. At least their child was safe and that was all they cared about.

"I don't know if I can do this, Tommy," Kim said as he picked her up and she managed to walk a few steps on her own before he had to completely take her in his arms. This was always her worst fear and for it to be realized now, was cruel and she didn't know if she could take it right now. She didn't know if she could deal with it and everything else that was happening in her life.

"We'll be all right," Tommy whispered as he kissed her forehead and walked into a well secluded grove, so that they could teleport away. He could feel her shaking in his arms and he was scared as well, but he knew that he had to hold on. He had to hold himself together, because one of them had to be calm and be able to understand what was going on.

"What are you doing back?" Andros asked as they landed in the middle of the Command Center and he heard the dry sob released from Kim's throat as she clung to Tommy and her entire body shook.

"They took her..." Kim managed to get out as Andros' eyes widened and he walked over to the communicator panel and began pulling up every bit of information that had been gathered over the past few hours. He had just gotten back and was hoping for a good rest, so he hadn't even had time to look at it yet.

"We'll find her," Tommy said as she continued to cling to his body and he picked her up and placed her on the console, so that they were about at eye level with each other. "It's going to be okay, Kim. I promise."

"This isn't my expertise, Tommy," Andros said as he had begun doing scans and Tommy nodded. He knew that Andros was good as surveillance, but this had always been something that they would call Billy or one of their other experts in for.

"Do you have any way to get Billy?" Tommy asked as Andros looked over at him, semi-shocked that he would mention him. He had not had many reasons to call up the best technological ranger that had ever lived, but he could see that Tommy believe that if Andros was going to have trouble, then they needed to have the lone ranger he trusted there. He couldn't lose his child after just finding out that he had one.

"We do Andros. I never told you about it but Billy has a jump transport set up here at just the press of a button. You just need to contact him," Kim managed as Tommy looked over at her and saw the tears that continued to fall down her face.

"I hoped I would never have to use that," Billy said as he landed in the Space Center and looked over to see that Kim had wrapped Tommy up tightly and was holding onto him like he was the only person left in the world and for her, he was. "Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, a couple of things," Tommy said as Kim lifted her head from Tommy's chest and she looked over at Billy.

"They took Jenny, Billy," Kim whispered as Billy's facial expressions fell and he looked up at Tommy, wondering if he knew that it was his daughter and saw the pain that was enough to confirm that he did, indeed, know the truth. "They took my baby."

"How much have you found?" Billy asked as he stepped over to Andros and Andros just shook his head. He hadn't been able to find a single trace, on Jenny or Mesogogg. He couldn't tell Kim and Tommy that, but he felt so helpless with the way that things were looking. "Contact the ranger team and take the two of them to his house. I'll contact you when I find something."

"I want to stay, Billy," Kim insisted as Tommy nodded his own agreement that he didn't want to leave.

"I need the two of you to brief the rangers on what has happened and by then I should have some idea of where we need to start, but just trust me with all of this," Billy said as Tommy felt Kim release her and he eased away from her for a moment as Kim walked over to Billy.

"She's my child Billy, I can't just let you do this and not be here to help. She wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't become what I am," Kim said as she began crying again and Tommy forced his eyes closed as his own tears spilled and Andros reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. It was killing him to know that a five year old was now in Mesogogg's labyrinth, but he doubted that he really wanted Jenny. It was more likely that an ultimatum would come where he asked for Kimberly or Tommy. He knew that both would leave the moment it was asked, to save their child. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"I'll go…" Tommy managed to force out as Billy looked over at him as he hastily wiped his eyes and pressed the teleportation code before he lost his nerve. He had only known that Jenny was his child for a couple of days, he shouldn't feel so attached, but he did and he felt it tearing at his soul that he was the one delegated to go tell the rangers that they now had to save their child.

"Tom…my," Kim said as he disappeared and she saw the hurt expression and closed her eyes to block out the tears that were sure to come.

"He's been through worse, Kim. He'll be able to keep himself in check and tell them," Billy said, as Kim looked over at him. She knew exactly what worse had been for Tommy and she hated knowing that she had caused all of it.

"Just find my baby," Kim said as Billy nodded. He knew that he would have to have that conversation with her later. He could see that the two of them were already more involved than they had been in years, but Kim had to remember the feelings that Tommy would go through.

He had missed so much of Jenny's short life already and right now, he was hurting. Kim was being possessive that it was her child, but she forgot it was his as well. The fact was, it hadn't been until a few days ago and she didn't think that Tommy would adjust so quickly to being the father. How wrong she had been about that, but there was nothing she could do as Billy began searching with every method that he knew and Kim silently peered in on Tommy as he sat down in his living room and waited for the rangers to arrive. She could tell by the way he was sitting and the fact that he was covering his face that he was crying, but somehow he'd get through this. Tommy was the strong one, they both knew that all too well.


	13. Chapter 13

"Dr. O, are you all right?" Kira asked as she was the first to arrive and could see the distress clearly in his features. She had never imagined seeing Dr. O like this, but she also had never expected to become a ranger, so it wasn't a first unexpected thing to happen in the last few days.

"No, they took Jenny," Tommy whispered as Kira's eyes widened and she fought to not hug him as he ran his fingers through his hair in utter frustration. He had never thought that he would live to see this day. He had thought that his child would be safe, he had thought that he could protect her, but he had been wrong, he had been so wrong.

"Where is she, what can we do to help?" Kira asked as Tommy looked over at her. He did not know the answer for her questions, but he felt it in his gut. He knew that this was something that only he and Kim could do. They couldn't really allow the others to help them. It was their child, their responsibility and they were not going to shove that off on anyone else because it was convenient.

"There's nothing you can do to help, we just had to have the decency to tell you what was going on and to let you know that you might be asked to hold down the fort for a little while," Tommy said as Kira gave him a skeptical look. She couldn't really believe what he was saying. They had to be able to help them somehow, otherwise he wouldn't be here.

"You mean that you're both going to go get her?" Kira asked as Tommy nodded his head yes. He certainly did not plan on letting Kim go in there by herself, considering everything that he knew about the situation. "I can tell Conner and Ethan when they get here, go be with Kim."

"She doesn't want me there right now," Tommy barely muttered as Kira stared at him and felt the gut wrenching pain that he was in. She didn't know if Kim blamed Tommy, but she could hazard a guess that it just hurt to be there with him right now.

"I'm sure that she does Dr. O, it's just hard to deal with it all right now," Kira said as Tommy barely nodded, but all he wanted to do was to be there with her and hold her. He needed to hold her, he needed to be able to keep her close and let her tears wash over him as he cried himself, but he couldn't do that when she didn't want him.

"Hard is an understatement, Kira," Tommy said, quietly, as Conner and Ethan walked in to see that Dr. O's eyes were puffy and he seemed extremely distressed. They didn't know what to do and they didn't have a clue what was going on, but they could tell by Kira's expression that it was nothing good.

"Tommy…" Kim's voice echoed over his communicator as he looked down at it and closed his eyes. He was sure that whatever she said next, he didn't want to hear.

"Yes," Tommy answered, as steadily as he could manage as his eyes filled with tears and he forced back a painful sob.

"Come back, please," Kim begged as he could hear the strain in her voice and fought to keep his own composure as Andros materialized out of no where and pressed his communicator for him. He had not been sure what Tommy would to, but he was sure that the man did not need to keep Kim waiting any longer.

"Now…let's get down to business," Andros said as the rangers merely nodded. They were not too sure who this man was, but sure enough that they didn't want to have to see him again unless he was helping them fight a desperate battle.

--------------

"I've found her," Billy said as Tommy landed next to them and had to reorient himself to the space. He couldn't help but be surprised that Billy had managed this so quickly, but it was Billy, he should have known that he could pull off a miracle.

"But we can't get to her, Tommy," Kim said as she let out a ragged breath and he looked over at her and then down at the floor as he sat in the chair on the opposite side of Billy. He had been so stupid to give so much of himself back over to her so quickly, they shouldn't have done what they did. They should have left themselves as friends for awhile.

"There has to be a way," Tommy said, determinedly as Kim held back a sob as she looked over at Tommy and saw the stiffness that had come back into his posturing. He didn't want for her to be anywhere near him right now. She had hurt him far too badly, by not even giving him the option to stay and help out. She had delegated that he be the one to tell the rangers.

"Yeah, the kids can go," Billy said as Tommy's eyes widened and he just shook his head as he looked over at Billy. He trusted the kids, but he also knew that they knew nothing about rescuing someone in a situation like this. Between the three of them there were probably around twenty rescue attempts, but that was where it all ended. "You don't have a choice Tommy, you have to trust them. That's what Andros is telling them right now. I'll give the two of you a minute, but not anymore. You have to make some decisions, quickly."

"Tommy…please…I'm sorry. I've been her only parent for so long, I forgot how you'd feel…please…don't," Kim begged as he looked over at her and saw the new tears ready to fall, only this time they weren't for Jenny, they were for the fear of losing him. She didn't know if she could take that right now.

"I can't believe," Tommy whispered as he looked down and the tears fell. "I couldn't stop him from taking her…I've never…except with you…"

"I know," Kim whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and he cried on her shoulder as he felt her break down and sob as well. "I'm so sorry, Tommy."

"Guys, I hate to break this up, but we've got to do something, soon," Billy said as Tommy looked up at him and nodded. Billy knew what he was nodding about as Tommy turned his attention back to Kimberly and began trying to calm her down. "Andros, they've agreed to it."

"You've got to be kidding," Andros said as he looked over at the young rangers, who were rather confused. "They let you talk them into that?"

"They don't know, but it's better this way," Billy said as Andros somehow managed to nod and then cut of the communication. He had a lot to explain to the young rangers and not a lot of time to do it in.

"What was that about?" Conner asked as Andros just shook his head. These kids were not going to like what was being said.

"The three of you going to rescue Jenny from Mesogogg," Andros said as their mouth's dropped open, at least they hadn't failed him with being honestly shocked about what was being asked of them.

"You've got to be kidding," Conner said as Andros just shook his head. He was deadly serious about what was being asked of them and they had to perform now, because if they didn't, then Jenny was going to pay.

"I'm not kidding, it's time that you step up and help them out," Andros said as the rangers barely nodded and Kira looked at him nervously, and he gave her a sympathetic look.

"Why can't they go?" Kira asked, suspiciously, as Andros just looked over at her as Conner's communicator beeped.

"We'll explain everything to you when you get back here, but until then, you have to go get her for us, because we can't and we can't just sit back and let them take her away," Tommy's voice echoed and the rangers immediately dropped the remaining questions that that they had. They could tell that if they waited much longer he would teleport down there and give them a firm piece of his mind. They didn't know if they were ready for that sort of confrontation, so they were just going to be good and do what they had to do.

"Let's go," Kira said as they all nodded and then were teleported out as Andros just let out a sigh.

"I hope you know what they are getting into Billy," Andros said as he shook his head and just stood there. He didn't think he could go face Kim and Tommy right now, but he didn't want to stay here either. A child that he had watched grow up was now captured by a monster that they could not stop. He didn't know how to react to this, he didn't know what he needed to do in order to try to help Kim and Tommy, if he even could. It was something that he just didn't know how to deal with and he didn't think he would ever learn how to.


	14. Chapter 14

"Leave me alone!" Jenny yelled as she scrambled away from the monster and tried to get behind something that would hide her, but she couldn't find anything. Everything there was not big enough for her to hide behind, much less any adult that might be trying to save her. "My Mommy and Daddy are not going to be happy with you."

"I'm not scared of your mommy and daddy," Mesogogg said as Jenny glared up at him and Mesogogg had to shake himself at how much she looked like Kimberly when she was mad. He had been watching the woman for awhile and he knew that she was one person that he did not truly wish to cross.

"You should be. My mommy and daddy are the best rangers ever!" Jenny yelled as he attempted to grab her and she kicked him hard in the shin. He had been warned that she was a tough little girl. He just hadn't really believed it until now.

"So why haven't your mommy and daddy rescued you yet?" Mesogogg asked as Jenny looked at him. She didn't have an answer for that question, but she was sure that she would think of something soon enough.

"Because they haven't been able to find me, once they find me, they'll be here," Jenny said as Mesogogg's eyes narrowed and the girl scrambled away as there was a loud explosion in the neighboring room and Zeltrax ran in and started beating out the fire on his arms.

"We have company," Zeltrax said as Mesogogg again tried to grab Jenny and move her away, but she was already charging towards the door and past Zeltrax to meet the rangers.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jenny yelled as she looked around at the rangers and saw that they weren't her parents, but immediately wrapped herself around the red ranger's legs, knowing that he would take care of her.

"Get her out of here, Conner," Kira said as she looked down at the little girl and Conner looked over at Kira in concern. He did not want to leave them in this mess, but he could hear the determination in Kira's voice. "We'll be fine, get her out of here, she's not protected."

"Come on," Conner said as he squatted down and picked the girl up before he teleported away.

"What are we going to do?" Ethan asked as Kira landed on the grounded with a thump and he ran over to her.

"Hold them off just a little bit longer and then we'll go. We have to make sure that Conner is able to get her home before they follow us," Kira said, as she pushed herself up and then was thrown across the room.

"Let's get out of here," Ethan said as he teleported them out and they landed in the Command Center, as Kira promptly fainted from the pain as Ethan looked around and saw that they were alone. "Hello! Come on guys, I need some help!"

"What's wrong?" Hayley asked as she came running in and looked over at Kira's crumpled form. She had been checking over Jenny, although she had not been able to get her far away from Kimberly. Tommy had sent her away when Ethan had yelled, he was just as afraid as Kim to leave her right now. "Go get Tommy…tell him that I need his help."

"Okay," Ethan said as he jumped up and ran off in the direction that Hayley had come from.

"You're all right," Kim said as happy tears fell from her eyes as she held Jenny close and Tommy had his arms wrapped around the both of them. "You're all right, baby."

"Don't cry, Mama," Jenny said as she looked up and saw both of her parents' tears. "I'm fine."

"I know, sweetie, but Mama's just happy," Kim said as Tommy closed his eyes to hold back his tears as Kim looked up at him and he just squeezed them even tighter. He had not had the two of them for a very long time, but he didn't want to lose them after just having them.

"Dr. O…I'm sorry to break this up, but Hayley needs some help," Ethan said as he pulled off his helmet and Tommy looked over at him and then realized what must have happened.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Kim," Tommy whispered as he gave her a kiss on the forehead and reluctantly let her go. Conner had already run out of the room, figuring what it must be and Tommy was not far behind him.

"Kira…" Conner muttered as he saw her on the floor and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Damn it…" Tommy muttered under his breath as he moved over to Kira and scooped her up into his arms and placed her on the cot that Hayley had already set out. "Come on, Kira, wake up."

"She's out good, Tommy," Hayley said as Tommy looked up at her and he then looked back at the two rangers. He knew what had brought Kim around when she was younger, but neither of these boys were that close to Kira.

"Why couldn't one of them be dating her…" Tommy murmured to himself as Hayley laughed as Kim walked in still carrying Jenny, with Andros only a few moments behind her.

"Kira…wake up," Conner said as he walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder and she let out a groan, which made Hayley and Tommy give him an odd look. It he could wake her up, then they were going to have to look at some other things that were going on. "Wake up, sweetie."

"Sweetie?" Ethan asked looking over at Conner and he just shrugged his shoulders as Kira's eyes blinked open slowly and she looked around at the others. She was just going to love to hear what brought her out of her unconsciousness.

"What happened?" Kira asked, slowly, as Kim walked up next to Tommy and looked up at him with a thankful smile as he put his arm around her.

"You passed out, although I'm not sure why, but we'll know soon enough," Hayley said as Kira attempted to sit up, but wound up leaning against Conner instead. He gently placed his arms around her and pulled her close, as he was worried that she would pass out again.

"Is there something that you want to tell us, Conner?" Kim asked as the boy looked back at her and she nodded towards Kira and his face turned bright red. "Maybe you should talk first."

"Yeah," Conner said as Kim smiled up at Tommy who reached over for Jenny, who scrambled into his arms.

"Are we going to head back to the Space Station?" Andros asked as Kim looked over at Tommy and nodded to him that it was his decision.

"I want to sleep in my own, bed, Kim," Tommy said as Kim nodded and Andros smiled at the two of them.

"Okay, so I'll have a room to myself tonight," Andros said as he left in a blur and Kim's eyes widened as she looked up at Tommy, hoping he would know a way to get them out of what had just been said. They knew that Jenny wouldn't think anything of it, but the teenagers and Hayley certainly would not let that go without asking something about it.

"What does that mean Tommy?" Hayley asked as Kim buried her face against his chest, as she did not want for them to see her blush.

"Nothing, Hayley," Tommy said, calmly, as Jenny looked at his face and saw the lie, but didn't say anything. She was sure that there was a reason that her parents were lying about being back together.

"It means something Dr. O," Conner said, sensibly, as Tommy just shook his head and Jenny scrambled down to the floor and then ran up the stairs.

"Jenny? Where are you going?" Tommy asked as Kim looked up from his chest, her face slightly less red as he released her and she ran up the stairs after Jenny.

"Fess up Tommy, we all know that something happened between the two of you. What was it?" Hayley asked as Tommy looked at her and just shook his head. He had to find a way out of telling them that he had had sex with his ex-girlfriend only after about five minutes of being nice to each other. It was the same thing as what had happened last time.

"Use your imagination, see where it leads you," Tommy said as Hayley's eyes widened and she just shook her head.

"I thought that you would learn," Hayley said as Tommy smiled and he then headed up the stairs to join the rest of his family.

"Let the kids go when Kira gets over the dizziness and if that's not over in the next hour, come tell me. We may have to actually take her to the hospital," Tommy said as Kira moved away from Conner for a moment to look up at who had been holding her for the last few minutes and was shocked to see him.

"What are you doing?" Kira whispered as Conner looked between Hayley and Ethan, who both silently turned towards the stairs and left. They knew that the two of them needed a moment. "Conner…"

"You woke up for me, not Dr. O," Conner said, simply, as Kira just stared at him, wondering what that meant. She didn't really understand it. "I…I guess that doesn't mean anything to you."

"What do you mean? Please just tell me what you're thinking, I'm too tired to try to figure it out on my own," Kira said as she closed her eyes and snuggled up against him.

"Why did you wake up for me when you wouldn't wake up for him?" Conner asked as Kira just shrugged her shoulders. She had not realized what had happened, but she hoped that no one would really look into it too hard. "Kira, there is always a reason for that, you know it as well as I do."

"There is not always an explanation for things Conner, just accept it and everything will be all right," Kira said as Conner just shook his head. He had not expected her to have this sort of reaction to him

"You were out cold, so there is some sort of explanation for it all," Conner said as Kira just looked at him. She was not sure that she really wanted to hear any of this and she was surely sure that she did not want to have to say anything about it.

"There is nothing Conner, I just woke up when I was supposed to," Kira said as Conner just shook his head. They both knew that was a lie but neither of them wanted to confront the other about it. There was no use in upsetting the other in such a situation.

"Okay, but you are going to have a very hard time convincing Dr. O of that one," Conner said as Kira looked over at him, slightly confused. "I'm just being honest Kira."

"I know Conner, but I have a rough time believing that Dr. O would actually care about how I am, considering how everything is going with him and Kim right now," Kira said as Conner nodded his head, but he also had the feeling that Dr. O could handle more than one problem at a time.

"You'd be surprised at how well he can multi-task," Kim said as she walked back down the stairs and picked up the t-shirt she had left down there for Jenny. "Tommy is a man of many surprises and if you stick around long enough, you might just find out about a few more of them."


	15. Chapter 15

"Andros!" Cassie yelled as he landed in the center and spun around to face the voice that was calling out his name. He had not expected to meet anyone here, as he had wanted a quiet day to himself, but that was not going to happen now.

"What did I forget this time?" Andros asked as he relaxed after realizing who was there with him.

"You didn't forget anything, I just wanted to drop in on you and I'm glad that I did. You look like you've had a bad day," Cassie said as she reached for his hand and gently took it in hers.

"They took Jenny today and I don't think that I can go through that again. Cassie, we've got to find a way out of this. Kim and Tommy can't continue to do this to their child and I can't continue to do this to you," Andros said as Cassie gave him a concerned look. He had never talked about leaving the ranger world, but it was obvious that he felt that was his only choice now. Too many things had changed and had forced him to decide that he had to get out while he still could. He knew that he would eventually not have a choice about staying or going and he did not want to reach that point. He still wanted to have some control of his life.

"Andros, it's all that you've ever known are you sure that you're going to be able to get away from this? Are you sure that you even want to?" Cassie asked as Andros looked over at her. She had to know that he was serious about this, otherwise he would have not bothered to say anything to her. He didn't want to get her hopes up about his leaving the ranger world until he was absolutely sure about leaving.

"Cass, I need to do this, not just for me, but for us," Andros said as he reached over and wrapped his arms around her as she leaned back against him. It had been so long since she had felt him hold her like this. She had missed him, she had missed being able to be with her boyfriend, missed seeing him every day and having him hold her like this. She just didn't know how long it would last. Things were always broken apart when they least expected it.

"Do you think they'll let you?" Cassie asked as Andros looked over at her and laughed.

"It doesn't matter if they will let me anymore, I have to do this for me Cassie. I'm tired of being a ranger, I'm tired of seeing Kim be hurt and worry about her child and what will happen to Jenny if something happens to her. She always thought that Tommy wouldn't be involved and that she would be able to make sure that Jenny would have one parent if she died. Hell, I'm afraid to even start a family because of this. I want a family with you Cassie; I want to be able to grow old with you and the only way that that is going to happen is if I get out of this soon," Andros said as Cassie looked up at him and he gave her a gentle kiss. "God I've missed you Cassie."

"I've missed you too, Andros," Cassie whispered as he smiled down at her and then his communicator beeped and he let out a disgruntled groan.

"What do you want?" Andros asked as he heard a stifled laugh. "Kimberly Ann Hart, answer me."

"I just wanted to remind you that you don't need to have too much fun," Kim said as Andros groaned and Cassie laughed.

"I could tell you the same thing," Andros said as he could hear the silence from Kim and knew that she had turned as red as the ranger suit she wore. "Don't worry about me Kim, now have a good night with your babies."

"I will, Andros," Kim said as the frequency went quiet and he waited for a moment to see if Kim would try to contact him again.

"What is she talking about?" Cassie asked as Andros looked over at her and he looked down at the floor.

"Last night she had a little bit of fun with Tommy," Andros said with a smile as Cassie looked up at him and just shook her head. "Are you okay? Why'd you come here?"

"I just needed to see you Andros, I haven't been around you in so long and I need you, more than I have ever realized it," Cassie said as Andros looked over at her and then gave her another kiss as she relaxed against his body. "Take me to bed, Andros. Take me with you."

"Cass…"Andros whispered as she pulled him down and kissed him hard before he could even try to complete his thought. She wanted to get her point across to him before he was able to even try to think of an excuse to not do what she wanted. "You came here to seduce me?"

"No, just to have my way with you," Cassie said as she smiled up at him and Andros then picked her up as she laughed.

"I think I can let you do that," Andros said with a smile as she held onto him and he walked back towards his room.

-----------------

"Mommy! Mommy!" Jenny yelled out in her sleep as she tossed and turned in her nightmare. "Daddy! Mommy!"

"Wake up baby, wake up," Kim whispered, as she gently shook her shoulder as Tommy walked in behind her and watched as Kim struggled to wake her up as she thrashed about. "Come on, baby, wake up, it's all right. Mommy's here"

"Mommy," Jenny said as she woke up with tears falling from her cheeks and Kim wrapped her up in a tight hug. "He got me Mommy."

"He's not going to get you again baby," Kim said as she stroked back her hair as she looked back over at Tommy and he walked over to the two of them.

"You want me to get anything?" Tommy asked as Kim shook her head no and he looked between the two of them.

"Can I come sleep with you?" Jenny asked as Kim looked back at Tommy and he nodded that he would be fine on the couch.

"I'll go downstairs, Kim," Tommy whispered as she nodded, although she had been having a rough night herself. She knew that she was likely to be yelling out for Tommy in a few hours, but she also knew that Jenny was going to need some time before she got used to the idea of the two of them being together.

"Daddy, where are you going?" Jenny asked, half awake as Kim carried her towards Tommy's room as Tommy headed down the stairs.

"I'm just going down stairs, everything is all right baby," Tommy said as Jenny reached for him and he picked her up carefully and she immediately curled against him and went to sleep. "What do you want to do now?"

"She not going to let go of you tonight Tommy," Kim said as he looked down at the girl in his arms and smiled. "We might as well just go back to bed."

"Are you sure? I'm sure that I could disentangle myself somehow," Tommy said as Kim just shook her head. She did not want to risk Jenny waking up again screaming out for either of them without them being very close.

"I don't want her to wake up terrified again Tommy and I don't know if I can even sleep without you," Kim answered, honestly, as Tommy nodded his head and carried Jenny on into their room. Kim stood back and watched him as he cradled the little girl in his arms and placed her in the middle of the bed and then crawled in next to her as she immediately wrapped her arms around him and she saw the smile light up his face as he looked over at her and saw something in her eyes that made his smile fade. "I've waited far too long to see her with you, Tommy."

"We all make mistakes, Kim. There is nothing you can do about it now, but we've got this now, we just don't need to mess it up," Tommy said as Kim crawled in and he reached over and gently ran his fingers through her hair as she smiled over at him as Jenny squirmed and Tommy looked down at her.

"That's so much easier said than done Tommy," Kim whispered with a sad look in her eyes as he reached over and gave her a gentle kiss.

"It's different this time Kim. We're in this mess together and if we can't figure out a way out of it, at least we have each other," Tommy said in a serious tone as Kim nodded and then snuggled closer to their sleeping daughter as Tommy watched her before giving himself back over to the tiredness that was overtaking his body. They had had a long day and they were hoping that this night would erase so much of what they knew would haunt them for years to come.


	16. Chapter 16

"Mommy, wake up!" Jenny said shaking Kim at about five o'clock and Kim groaned as she turned away from her. Why in the world did their child have to be an early riser when neither one of them liked getting up before the crack of dawn?

"What is it sweetie?" Kim finally managed as she sleepily opened her eyes and Jenny just smiled down at her as Kim smiled back at her happiness. You would never be able to tell that she had been captured yesterday by the way that she was acting.

"Where's Daddy?" Jenny asked as she suddenly seemed to remember that she had been with the both of them last night. She, however, didn't know that she was sending her mother into a panic as Kim scanned the room, thinking maybe he had only walked to the bathroom, but that door was still open.

"Stay here," Kim said as she jumped out of bed and Jenny was right on her heals before she could even stop her.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked as Kim picked her up and started downstairs, hoping that Tommy would be down there. She, however, did not see him on the couch or anywhere in the living room, so she continued on to the kitchen and saw it was still dark.

"We just need to find Daddy," Kim said, with a false sense of calm as she pulled on the jaw that Tommy had showed her earlier, praying that he was in the basement. She didn't see him when she walked down and she knew that she wouldn't hold herself together much longer, so she walked back up and did one more frantic scan before she yelled out. "Tommy!"

"Daddy!" Jenny yelled, mimicking her mother's tone, which was close to hysterical as Kim covered her face with one hand as she stood in the middle of the kitchen, scared about what was happening.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked as he ran down the stairs and Kim let out a sigh of relief as Jenny reached out for Tommy, who quickly took her, but he was still looking at Kim as she lowered herself into a chair and covered her face. "Kim…"

"Mommy…" Jenny said as she scrambled down and walked over to Kim, who looked at her for a moment before looking up at Tommy.

"You scared me, Tommy," Kim said as he looked over at her and reached down and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't know where you were and I didn't know what might have…"

"Sorry, I just went into the guest room when I woke up a couple of hours ago. I didn't want to wake the two of you with my walking around," Tommy said as Kim nodded against his stomach and tried to stop the couple of tears that flowed from her eyes. "I'm okay, Kim."

"I know…the last couple of days just haven't been that good for me," Kim said as Tommy nodded, he definitely had to agree with her on that point. These last few days had been hell for the both of them, but they had tried to keep it together for Jenny although they didn't do a really good job of that.

"We'll be fine," Tommy said, reassuringly, as Kim just clung to him and he held her for a moment longer before Jenny began tugging on his hand and he reluctantly let Kim go to face their anxious daughter. "What is it sweetie?"

"I want to show you something," Jenny said as she ran off and Tommy followed her as Kim smiled at the two of them. There was no telling what Jenny saw or found that was interesting.

"What is it?" Tommy asked as she led him into the guest room and Jenny scrambled over the bed as he walked around it and sat down on the side next to her.

"Isn't this a picture of you and Mama?" Jenny asked as Tommy looked at it and smiled. It was their last Christmas together and there were so many things that he remembered about that time and what it had meant to the two of them. They would have never had a lot of things happen if not for that night, but considering the fact that they had sex twice and made a baby twice now made him wonder about something else.

"Yeah," Tommy said as he took a long look at it before handing it back over to Jenny.

"Where was I?" Jenny asked as Tommy just shook his head.

"You weren't around yet," Tommy said as Jenny gave him a confused look. She thought that they had had her really soon after this picture.

"But Mama said she came to see you before she was pregnant with me," Jenny said as Tommy smiled down at her and he nodded. He just didn't have to heart to tell her that it was a different time. He knew that telling her all of this would not make her feel any better.

"She did," Tommy said as Jenny looked at him, but didn't say anything. There was nothing that he could say to make all of this any better, but he knew that Kim was the one that had to tell her everything about them. When she was older, she'd figure it out, but he didn't want to explain it to her at five.

"Hey, you want to go back to bed honey?" Kim asked, in an attempt to them some more rest, as they two of them, as she could see the circles under Tommy's eyes and the both of them needed the extra sleep.

"No," Jenny said as Kim let out a sigh and Tommy scooped Jenny up and carried her out of the room, seeming to have enough energy to keep up with a five year old.

"Get in touch with Andros in a little while, I'm going to make breakfast," Tommy said as Kim gave him a startled look. She could not remember him having any cooking skills. "My mom taught me how to cook Kim, she didn't exactly like coming here and seeing the fridge full of frozen pizzas."

"Your parents…" Kim murmured as she looked between Jenny and Tommy and Tommy grimaced. Her parents would never say that they hated Kim, because that was not the truth, but it was going to be one hell of a story when they turned up with a little kid in tow.

"I'll call and see if they can have us for supper. There is no use beating around the bush for all of this," Tommy said as Kim just nodded and then looked down at her appearance and let out a frustrated sigh. He could see that she was not really excited about this idea, but there was nothing that they could do to change what had happened to them.

"All right and I'll go down and contact Andros so that he knows we're not coming in any time today," Kim said as she walked out of the room and Jenny just looked up at Tommy.

"Who are we going to see tonight?" Jenny asked as Tommy smiled over at her as he picked her up and placed her on the counter.

"Your grandparents," Tommy said as Jenny's eyes widened, she had never known that she had more than two. "They'll be happy to meet you."

"I get to meet your mom and dad?" Jenny said excitedly as Tommy nodded his head yes and the little girl scrambled off the counter and Tommy smiled as she ran down the stairs to go find Kimberly. He just hoped that his parents would not freak out this weekend.

-------------

"Hey," Tommy said as he opened the door and his mother bustled over and gave him a hug.

"Tommy, it's been too long," Susan said as she squeezed Tommy and he smiled down at her.

"It's only been a couple of weeks Mom," Tommy said as his mother looked over Tommy's shoulder and saw the guests that had come with him. As she recognized the face, her eyes widened and she began shaking her head no as she looked between the girl and Tommy.

"Kimberly?" Susan managed to ask as Kim nodded her head yes and she then reached out and gave the girl a hug. "What made you come back?"

"That's a long story," Kim said as Tommy nodded and his mother shook her head as Jenny was peeking out from behind Tommy's leg, looking up at her. Jenny was not normally shy, but she had been thrown into a completely new situation and Kim had never done this to her before.

"Who's this little girl?" Susan asked, squatting down so that she was closer to Jenny's level.

"Jenny Oliver," Jenny muttered as Susan's eyes flicked up at Tommy and he just shrugged his shoulders as his father walked in time to hear the little girls muttering.

"We have a granddaughter?" Mack asked, as Tommy nodded his head yes as his father reached down and scooped the little girl up and twirled her around as she giggled.

"You didn't know about me?" Jenny asked as Kim looked over at Tommy, who gave his father a look that said to lie.

"Of course we did, I just have never seen a little girl so pretty," Mack said as he gave Tommy a look that said they would certainly talk about this later. He had a feeling that Kim and Tommy were going to have a lot of explaining to do to get Susan off their backs about the current situation.

"Oh, okay," Jenny said as she jumped down and Tommy silently wiped his forehead. He was glad that his dad went along with it, thank goodness. He did not want for Jenny to think that they had absolutely no idea that she existed until she walked in clutching on to Tommy like he was the only thing that was going to keep her alive.

"Thanks Dad," Tommy said as he walked up beside his father and he smiled over at Tommy, knowing exactly what he was thanking him for. "How you been?"

"I've been doing pretty good, considering that I just found out I'm a grandfather," Mack said as Tommy gave him an apologetic glance. "I suppose that Kim made you promise not to say anything."

"Yeah, that and the fact that Jenny wouldn't even leave the room while I called you," Tommy said as Jenny was pulling Kim around the house now and Tommy tried not to laugh too hard.

"She's the both of you son," Mack said as Tommy nodded, although he definitely thought that she was more of Kimberly than of himself, he knew that his father was right.

"I know, but I also know that this is something that the both of us are going to have to get used to. She used to just having Kim and I'm used to dreaming of having this family…" Tommy trailed off as Kim walked up to him and he saw the concerned look in her eyes.

"Andros just called," Kim stated as Tommy gave her a confused look and she saw the concern in her eyes.

"What did he have to say?" Tommy asked as a shimmer of light started around him and they suddenly found themselves standing in the Command Center. "What the hell are you doing? How in the hell am I going to explain that to my parents?"

"That's the least of your worries right now," Andros said as he pointed to the screen and both of their postures drastically changed. "That is where we are going to have to go to get the power to relieve all of us from this burden."

"No," Kim muttered as she stepped away from the screen, seeming to hope that that would make it less real.

"Phaedos," Tommy said as he just shook his head. "Why couldn't you wait to tell us this?"

"Because the government sent this to us, they know that we have a ranger team that is in training and they actually said that if we can get it stable enough, they'll allow us to go," Andros said as Tommy shook his head in disbelief. Two days ago the government wouldn't even look at it and now they were saying that the rangers had free reign to go if they could train a competent replacement team.

"There has to be a catch to this," Tommy said as it just seemed too good to be true.

"They need to know if we can do it be tonight, not proof, but just us saying that we will be able to train this ranger team to protect the earth well enough that they will not have to worry about anything while we go and get the powers to be unleashed for the other rangers to continue after us," Andros said as Tommy took in a deep breath and looked over at Kim.

"We can do it, but you have to send me back home, now," Tommy said as the shimmers began again and they landed in the Oliver's living room.

"So, when were you going to tell us that you were a ranger?" Mack asked as Jenny had just finished telling the story to them and the little girl could see that Tommy was irritated, but he was not going to say anything about it.

"When I had to morph in front of you," Tommy said as Mack just shook his head as Kim looked over at them as she scooted behind Tommy.

"Kim, we're not mad at you anymore, we thought you'd come back one day and you are the mother of our granddaughter," Mack said as Susan nodded. The two of them had known that things were going on with Tommy and Kim when they were in high school, but judging by the age of Jenny it had happened a little bit later than when she had last been here and they were on good terms.

"I'm glad to hear that," Kim whispered as Tommy reached back and pulled her up even to him and she leaned against him.

"Well, I think we need to do some bonding," Mack said as Jenny giggled as he tickled her sides. "Tommy, go home son. The two of you need some time together and we'll look after her."

"Dad, I don't know…" Tommy began as Jenny interrupted him.

"Daddy, why can't I stay with Papa Mack?" Jenny whined as she gave him a puppy dog face and Tommy's heart just faltered.

"As long as it's all right with Mama, you can stay," Tommy said as Kim barely nodded her head yes and Jenny ran over and gave them hugs.

"Go, the both of you," Susan said as she shoved them out the front door and Kim looked back at it with a small smile.

"We'll be alone," Kim said as Tommy's eyebrows shot up and she smiled.

"Kimberly Hart, if I didn't know any better I'd say that you are suggesting…" Tommy said as Kim nodded her head that she was and he just looked at her. He had not wanted for her to say yes. He had desperately wanted her to say no, because it was a two hour drive home and this was not something that he could really handle for two hours. "You're going to be the end of me."

"I already am, Tommy," Kim said as Tommy smiled and he kissed her on the cheek as she climbed in the passenger side and he walked around to the other side. He knew that there was something waiting for him when they got home. He just didn't know what.


	17. Chapter 17

"I love you," Tommy whispered in her ear as she snuggled up against him and he felt her relax as his own eyes closed peacefully. He had needed a night like this with her. He had been completely miserable without her and knowing that she was back here with him made him feel so much better. He knew that this was the entire reason that his parents had sent him home. There had been weekends when the two of them had sent him to his grandparents and he understood it now. He understood just needing some time.

---------------

"Wake up!" Andros yelled as he landed in their room and Tommy groaned as Andros had begun to pull on the covers, but Tommy snatched it back from him. He didn't mind if Andros saw him in the nude, but he wanted Kim to stay as protected as possible.

"You do that, you die," Tommy muttered as Andros just shook his head in frustration.

"Get up and get some damn clothes on. Your rangers are in a fight," Andros said as Tommy nodded as he gently moved Kim away from him and scooted out from under the cover and walked over to his closet.

"Tommy…" Kimberly murmured as he looked back at her and Andros stood there with a smug smile on his face.

"Sleep, I'll be back in a little while," Tommy said as he bent down and kissed her on the forehead and she sunk back into the bed as Tommy walked out of the room with Andros right in front of him. "What's going on?"

"This morning Mesogogg came out of the blue at Conner's soccer game. They were able to get into a place where they could morph, but they're not doing so hot. They just aren't up to speed yet," Andros said as Tommy walked down into the Command Center and looked at the monitor and just shook his head.

"I'll go," Tommy said as Andros barely nodded as Tommy teleported away and landed in the midst of the battle. It took him moments to orient himself and then begin fighting himself. He knew what needed to be done and which ones to engage in battle first.

"Dr. O?" Kira asked, shocked that he was there helping them. They had all thought that they were going to have to do this alone and that was certainly something that they didn't like, considering what had been going on lately.

"Yeah, I guess that I'm the calvary," Tommy said as Kira barely nodded her yellow helmet and he shook his own head as a tryannadrone came after him and he managed to throw it up against the wall as it headed towards her.

"Just you?" Conner asked as Tommy glared over at him and Conner just went back to fighting. He knew that he did not need to say anything else to him, otherwise he might find himself thrown up against a wall that he didn't particularly like.

"Tommy, where's your little slut?" Mesogogg asked as Tommy spun around and they all felt the glare coming off of him. They were sure that Tommy was going to kill Mesogogg for making that comment.

"You son of a bitch," Tommy said as he launched towards Mesogogg and Mesogogg started backing up and Tommy threw his body into Mesogogg and Mesogogg rolled away from Tommy. He was full and ready to kick Mesogogg's ass in order to make all of this work. Tommy knew that he was teetering on a dangerous edge right now and where that might take him, he didn't know, but he was sure that Mesogogg was about to find out.

"Such language for a teacher!" Mesogogg taunted as Tommy felt his body tingling and decided it was best to morph before his body did it for him. As the familiar white ninja drab enveloped his body his determination became more iron clad. Mesogogg could feel the pulses that were emanating from Tommy as he raised his eyebrows in the small area where he could see his eyes.

"I was a ranger first," Tommy said with a smile as Mesogogg gave him a thorough look before taking a step towards Tommy, who just shook his head in disgust as he lifted his arms and the energy that had been building in him shot out towards Mesogogg. "I've also picked up a few tricks that they don't have."

"You really were brave to leave Kimberly alone," Mesogogg said as he forced himself to stand up and Tommy pegged him to the nearest wall and Mesogogg's face held its own self satisfied grin. He wanted to push Tommy over the edge and make him do something that he wouldn't normally do.

"What have you done to her?" Tommy asked as he lifted Mesogogg from the ground and stared him in the eyes, willing him to blink or do anything that would piss him off right now.

"I'm just saying you are brave to leave her when you have only recently gotten her back in your folds," Mesogogg said as Tommy threw him to the ground and Mesogogg then called up an invisaportal and he and the tryannadrones disappeared in a matter of moments.

"Dr. O, come on, let's go," Kira said as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to where they could power down and then teleport.

"You go ahead, I have some things to look at," Tommy said as they looked at him but did not question him as Kira let go of Tommy and they then teleported away as he walked forward to where the invisaportal had been and examined the ground for a moment. He could tell that something was off that the matter had somehow been affected by the invisaportal appearing, but he was not sure how to convey that to anyone who didn't have a science degree.

----------------

"Why didn't you drag him back with you?" Andros asked as the three rangers landed and they looked over at him in shock.

"I'm not brave enough to try that, if you want to get yourself killed, you go ahead and drag him back," Conner said as Andros just shook his head and right before he was going to teleport himself out, Tommy landed in the Command Center.

"Is she still asleep?" Tommy asked pulling down his mask and Andros nodded his head yes as Tommy let out a sigh. He had hoped that Kim had woken up and stumbled down the stairs.

"You know he was trying to trick you," Andros said as Tommy nodded his head yes. "Why did you jump for it then?"

"For this," Tommy said as he held up a half crushed coin and Andros gave it a funny look. "It's how he calls his lovely little invisaportals. So, we now know that we just have to keep him from using these things if we can help it."

"You are one lucky son of a bitch," Andros said as Tommy nodded his head with a serious look in his eyes. "You better go wake Kim, she'd want to know about what happened."

"All right," Tommy said as they watched him demorph and leave the room. The rangers had tons of questions, but they felt that those could wait until the both of them were down there. It seemed that Tommy would not even attempt to answer them without Kimberly anyway and they might as well settle down while they could.

"It's going to be a long morning, isn't it?" Conner asked as Andros nodded his head. He honestly doubted that Kim and Tommy would let them out of there before noon, but he did not want to tell the teens that. He wanted them to have some hope, because that was the only thing that was going to keep them going.

"Kim," Tommy whispered as he walked into their bedroom and looked at the bed, where she was still sleeping soundly, only she had now shifted herself to his side of the bed in an attempt to just have his smell with her. He hated to wake her up, but he knew that if he prolonged it, she would only be mad at him and he didn't need that right now.

"Come back to bed," Kim muttered as she rolled over and held her arms open, waiting for him just to crawl in next to her.

"I'm sorry, but you have to get up, honey," Tommy said as he sat down on the edge of the bed and she reached for his shirt and began pulling it off. He forced himself to stop her hands and as he did, she opened her eyes for the first time and gave him a concerned look.

"What's going on?" Kim asked as she sat up and pulled the covers with her as he just shook his head. He absolutely hated making her feel like shit and he hated pointing these sort of things out to her.

"The rangers were attacked this morning," Tommy said as Kim looked at him and then threw the covers off herself and walked over to his closet, to try to find the bag of clothes that she had brought over here. "You're clothes are in the guest room."

"Damn it," Kim muttered as Tommy just shook his head and stood up to go get them for her. He knew that there was always a chance that the young rangers would be allowed out of the lair and allowed to explore and he was afraid of what that might mean if Kim just decided to walk out in her birthday suit. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, Kim," Tommy said as she took the bag from him and pulled out a few garments. He tried to keep himself from watching her, but he couldn't help it and she certainly didn't seem to mind.

"Is that why you left?" Kim asked as Tommy nodded his head yes and she reached over for his hand and gently took it in her own. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful, I couldn't bring myself to wake you up," Tommy said as she smiled over at him and she gave him a chaste kiss as Tommy leaned into her and she smiled up at him.

"Thanks. I think that's the first morning that I've slept late since Jenny was born," Kim said as Tommy gave her a sympathetic look. "Tommy, don't. You can't blame yourself for what you didn't even know about."

"Kim, what if…" Tommy began as Kim just shook her head. She couldn't consider being pregnant right now.

"If that has happened Tommy, we'll find out in a few weeks when I wake up sick to my stomach," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her and she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. "Tommy, I don't mind carrying your child."

"Kimberly, I don't mind either, but I know that we've got so much ahead of us. We're going to have to go to Phaedos again," Tommy said as Kimberly nodded and reached towards him and he gently wrapped his arms around her.

"We'll talk about it when we get there Tommy, if we get there," Kim said as they heard a bang from downstairs and they both jumped.

"If the two of you want to come down, we've only been waiting for the last fifteen minutes!" Conner yelled up the stairs as Kim threw open the door and glared down at him as Tommy followed after her with a smile. He knew that Kimberly was going to go down and rip Conner a new one, but he had to admit that the two of them had been answering questions that they needed to answer instead of skating around them.

"Give us a few minutes!" Kim yelled down towards him as Conner stumbled back and Tommy stopped in his tracks as he was about to run into Kim. "I just need you right now Tommy. I don't want to hear about anything else."

"But…" Tommy began as she just shook her head and he gave her a curious look.

"I just need you," Kim repeated as he nodded and placed his arms around her in a firm hug as she rested against him and he couldn't help but wonder why she didn't want to talk to the rangers right now, but merely placed it as stress. Little did he know that Kimberly had other reasons to avoid the rangers that they had to train.


	18. Chapter 18

"What could possibly be taking them so long?" Conner asked, as he was growing impatient, waiting in the Command Center for Kimberly and Tommy. They did not seem to find it important to come down and actually talk to them about what was going on here.

"The two of them have a lot to talk about Conner," Andros said as Conner turned to him, in shock that Andros would say that sort of thing to him when it was obvious that that was the absolute least of their problems. They had a monster coming after them and they were concerned about how their relationship would turn out? That just didn't match up, at all.

"Yeah their relationship is a hell of a lot more important than what happened this morning," Conner smarted off as a door slammed and he jumped around to see Kim glaring at him and Tommy just smiled. He was not going to say a thing, Kim's fury would be more than enough to keep Conner quiet for the next few days, at the very least.

"Our relationship is what is causing a lot of this to happen. So we might need to figure out exactly what we're doing," Kim said as Andros gave her a concerned look, but she just shook her head. She would explain everything fully to him later, but right now she wanted to rip into Conner. "And there are things in our relationship that are more important than your little adventure this morning. See, we've done all of that before, so excuse me for not being extremely worried about your situation."

"They came to my soccer game, you aren't concerned about that?" Conner all but yelled as Kim turned on him and glared up at the boy.

"It's something that they would do, the more destruction that they can cause, the better. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth and you are going to have to deal with a lot of harsh truths over the next few months if we are going to be able to get you into the shape that you need to be in," Kim said, almost too calmly, as Tommy took a step to catch her, in case she did snap. "Of course, if you think you can do our job better, we'll leave right now and you won't have to worry about us wasting anymore of your precious time."

"You did it alone, why can't we?" Conner asked, sticking his foot in his mouth as Andros and Tommy grabbed Kim to keep her from attacking the young, stupid ranger.

"Bull shit we did it alone! Haven't you listened to a damn thing that we said to you!" Kimberly yelled as Tommy wrapped his arms around her to further restrain her as she started glowing an eerie shade of red and Conner's eyes widened. "You are going to need us to survive or Mesogogg will hand you your own ass on a platter!"

"Calm down, Kim," Tommy whispered in her ear and she took a deep breath to attempt to do what he was asking, but it still didn't really make him feel better. He could feel the anger bubbling up inside of her.

"You don't act like you care," Conner said as Kim let out a frustrated groan and then walked away from all of them.

"Kim, where you going?" Tommy asked as he started to follow her, but stopped when she looked back at him.

"I am going to calm down, talk some sense into them, please," Kim said as she slammed the trap door closed and Andros and Tommy exchanged a glance. They both knew if Kim was walking away that she had been very close to losing all control that she had attained over the years as a ranger.

"Conner, how can you be such an asshole?" Kira asked, turning on him the second that Kimberly was gone from the room. "Do you not remember what they're giving up here?"

"We're giving up more," Conner said as Tommy just shook his head and took a step forward.

"I didn't know that I had a child because I was a ranger and it was too dangerous for her to tell me. I have missed six years of her life that I can't get back, so don't tell me that you've given up more than I have," Tommy said, dangerously, as Conner looked over at him, slightly scared of what Tommy might do to him at the moment. "Now, what do you want to know that is so important?"

"It doesn't really seem to matter now," Conner said as he was receiving a death glare from Kira right now.

"I do have one question, why is it that Mesogogg is so scared of you and we can't so much as get in a punch with him?" Ethan asked as Tommy smiled over at him. He had been waiting for one of them to bring up that, so that he could have the opportunity to explain what their true goals were with them.

"He respects what he knows that I can do. He doesn't want to try me too hard, but he believes that all of you are too weak and that he can just attack you at will," Tommy said as they looked at him in awe. "Our job right now is to get you up to the level where you can fight Mesogogg and his helpers by yourselves, because we have to go to Phaedos, to find the powers that will allow us to no longer be rangers."

"Phaedos? Where the hell is that?" Conner asked, as he was sure that he knew that nine planets that existed in his own solar system and that was not one of them.

"It's a planet in another galaxy that contains an unknown amount of powers that we could use for earth. I've been there before and so has Kim, so the two of us know what we might be up against if we go back," Tommy said as they looked over at him. They had not realized exactly what the three of them were going to be up against until now.

"How can you do that?" Kira asked as Tommy looked over at her and she could read from his expression what the answer must be.

"We have no choice. If we do not go, then no one will go and no one can be certain that even we will fully accomplish the task that is at hand, we're just the best chance that you are going to have," Tommy said as they stared at him in awe and Andros held in a smile, as he did not want for them to know that this was exactly what they wanted to have happen. Tommy was trying to shock them into silence so that he could go calm Kim down, because they both knew that things were not going to be good if one of them didn't go up there and attempt to get her calmed down very soon. "Now, if you have no more questions, I have to go take care of a pissed off red ranger."

"Kim will be fine," Conner said as Tommy just shook his head and continued up the stairs. "He just wants more time with her."

"Conner, will you just shut up!" Kira yelled at him as he looked over at her in surprise. "All you have done is gripe and complain that they aren't looking after us like you think that they should, but they've got a lot on them, cut them some slack."

"She's right Conner, you have to remember that although they are rangers, they have a life outside of it that means a lot more to them than everything that is happening in the ranger world. They have to figure out what they mean to each other and if they can put Jenny through everything that is going on right now," Andros said as Conner looked over at him, slightly surprised that he made any sense. "I may be from another planet, but I know the two of them better than you would imagine."

"You aren't from Earth?" Conner asked in shock as Andros laughed.

"Hardly," Andros said with a smile as he turned away from them. "I have to be getting back to the Space Station, if you need something, call me."

"I guess we'll let ourselves out," Ethan muttered as they were now left alone in the command center without any supervision and they all thought that they needed to leave. This place certainly did not feel comfortable to them at all.

-------------------

"Kim?" Tommy started hesitantly as he walked up the stairs and found her curled up on the couch. "Are you better?"

"Yeah, I am," Kim whispered as he sat down next to her. "I'm just worried about how things are going to go, considering everything that we're going to have to do."

"I know…but what choice do we have?" Tommy asked as Kim nodded in agreement, if they didn't do what they were being asked to do while they still could, they would be stuck as rangers forever.

"Have you even thought about what we are going to be facing?" Kim asked as Tommy nodded his head that he had.

"It's not going to be pretty, what we'll be facing is likely to be something that we haven't seen the likes of in years," Tommy said as Kim nodded in agreement, although she dreaded hearing those words come from Tommy's mouth. She had definitely thought it, but to hear it made it all the worse.

"Do you think that we'll be able to survive this?" Kim asked as Tommy nodded his head yes. He didn't think that he could not say yes.

"Kim, when do you think that we can go get Jenny?" Tommy asked as Kim just shook her head.

"It's not safe right now, we're going to have to wait a couple of weeks at the very least before it will be safe," Kim said as Tommy just stared at her. He could not believe that she was willing to do this when he was almost certain that she would be begging that they go back tonight. "We have to leave them in Andros's hands and hope that he will be able to keep them out of trouble. We have to get to Phaedos, now."

"Kim, I'm not sure that is the smart thing to do," Tommy said as Kim just stared at him. She was not thrilled to hear the doubt in his voice.

"It may not be the smart thing to do, but it's time that we get this over with. We are the only ones that can Tommy and we might as well do this now. I don't want to wait until we are sure that nothing will happen to Jenny, at least when she is with your parents, she'll be safe," Kim said as Tommy nodded as he reached and pulled her into a hug.

"Kimberly, let's talk to Andros and then get this over with, you're right that we can't keep waiting around," Tommy said as she gave him a kiss and he started walking them towards their room with a smile on his face. He was glad to know that he had her again and he would do anything to keep everything just as it was, but he knew that this too would pass and the day was nearing when they could no longer ignore everything that they were feeling. He just hoped that they would all be able to understand when that day came.


	19. Chapter 19

"Tommy, what's going on?" Susan asked as Tommy landed in their living room and she looked over at him in concern. She was not sure if she would ever get used to him dropping in like this, it just was not a normal thing to have happen.

"We need you to take care of Jenny for a little while," Tommy said as Susan gave him a concerned look and he then let out a long sigh. He didn't want to have to explain anything to anyone, but it seemed that his mother was going to make him do just that. "We have some business that we have to take care of as soon as possible and we can't leave her with Andros, considering what he is going to be doing with the rangers. Can you please do this for us?"

"You're just going to leave your child without even telling her what is going on? Tommy, how bad is this?" Susan asked as he let out another long sigh. He did not want to admit the truth to his mother, but he might as well, considering everything else that he was asking her to do right now.

"We're going to be gone for a couple of weeks, at the bare minimum, to another galaxy so that we can try to retrieve powers that will let us go back to having a normal life," Tommy said as Susan just stared at him in shock. She had never thought that she would hear those words coming out of Tommy's mouth ever again.

"Are you really sure that you should do this?" Susan asked as Tommy just shook his head.

"I'm not really sure about anything right now Mom, but I do know that if Kim and I don't do this while we are still young enough too, we never will and we'll be stuck, just like we are right now and I don't want to know that I could have done something and I didn't," Tommy said as Susan just shook her head.

"What about your job Tommy?" Susan asked as Tommy just shrugged his shoulders.

"I've already called and told them that I am taking a couple of weeks off because I need to sort out some personal issues, so I think that if we leave tonight, we should be able to get everything done before my boss starts bitching," Tommy said as Susan just shook her head.

"Tommy, you have to be careful," Susan said as Tommy nodded as Mack and Jenny came back inside, both carrying a bag of groceries, although Jenny's covered all but her eyes.

"Daddy!" Jenny exclaimed as she dropped her bag and ran over to him.

"Hey, munchkin," Tommy said as he picked her up and she just smiled at him. "What do you think about staying with Papa Mack and Grannie Susan for a little while?"

"Where are you and Mama going?" Jenny asked, as Susan gave Tommy as smug look as she saw the wheels turning in his head so that he could try to get himself out of this sticky situation. "You're leaving?"

"Just for a little while," Tommy said as Jenny lower lip started to shake and Tommy had to close his eyes to try to pull himself back together. This was exactly why Kim couldn't come say good-bye and he knew that. He just didn't know why he had been stupid enough to let her talk him into going alone. "We'll be back as soon as we can."

"That's what Mama said the last time," Jenny said as the tears streamed down her face and Tommy let out a heavy breath and wrapped her in a bear hug.

"We'll be back in a couple of weeks, honey, I promise," Tommy said as Jenny pulled back and looked at him and she just shook her head.

"Why does it have to be you and Mama?" Jenny asked, miserably, as Tommy just buried his face in her hair and held her tight.

"It just does and I'm so sorry about that," Tommy whispered as she passed her over to his own father and then teleported away.

"Daddy!" Jenny wailed as Mack held her tight and watched the streak fade that was his son and let out a long sigh. He could tell by Tommy's face what this was doing to him as well. He had just met his child and now he was being pulled in another direction.

"Shh…it's going to be all right," Mack whispered as Jenny just clung to him.

------------

"Tommy?" Kim asked as he walked in, but merely walked passed her and into the bathroom, where he promptly threw up. "What's wrong?"

"Jenny was there," Tommy muttered as Kim wrapped her arms around him and held onto him tightly. "God, Kim, how can we do this to her? She doesn't deserve this to happen."

"I know, but Tommy, if we don't do this now we'll have more children and just have to hurt them as well. We have our window of opportunity and we have to use it," Kim said as Tommy barely nodded. "I called the others, they should be here soon."

"What others?" Tommy asked as Kim looked back at him.

"The others that went to Phaedos, we need to go over everything that they remember about the experience, because there are some chunks that I don't exactly have a full memory of Tommy," Kim said as they heard someone knocking at the door and Kim went to go get it.

"Kim, it's good to see you," Aisha said as she threw her arms around Kimberly and she smiled back. "How are you doing? The last I heard you were still living across the country, what made you move back here?"

"Just a couple of things," Kim whispered as Tommy stepped into Aisha's view and Aisha stared at her. "I take it that Jason didn't tell you what happened."

"No…something happened between the two of you?" Aisha asked as Kim looked away and Tommy covered his mouth.

"Where's Rocky?" Tommy asked as Aisha took a step towards him and he wrapped her up in hug.

"He's getting little one out of the car," Aisha said with a smile as Kim looked at her in shock. "I thought that Jason told you..."

"No…it looks like I'm going to have to talk to him," Kim said as Rocky walked in with a car seat in tow and he smiled over at Kim.

"Never thought that I would get that call," Rocky said as Adam walked in behind him with Billy.

"It certainly was a nice surprise," Billy said as Kim smiled over at him. "You look good Kim, a lot better than the last time that I saw you."

"The last time you saw me I was in labor with Jenny," Kim said as Aisha's head swung around and Kim grimaced as she saw the look on her face. "I guess Jason didn't mention that either?"

"You'd be right to guess that," Aisha said as Kim just shook her head. She could not believe that the only one that knew was Billy. "But that's not why you asked us to come here, we all know that."

"We're going back to Phaedos," Tommy muttered as they looked over at him and saw the worry in his eyes.

"How can you? You have a kid, Kim, you can't just leave her," Adam said as they looked over at Tommy, expecting him to agree with them.

"No, we have a child and we are the only ones that can do this, but we need your help. We have to remember what happened on Phaedos, because our own memory is fairly splotchy, at the very best," Tommy said as all of their mouths dropped open.

"Why didn't we know that the two of you…" Aisha said as Kim smiled.

"The same reason that you didn't know that I even had a child in the first place, it was something that we never thought would be brought up or ever asked about after our break up," Kim said as Tommy sadly nodded his head in agreement.

"Well now that it has been brought up, what are you going to do?" Adam asked as he looked between the two of them and realized that they didn't want to talk about this, they couldn't right now. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Kim muttered as Adam gave her a hug and then looked around the house. "What?"

"Let me guess, this is Tommy's place, right?" Adam asked as Kim nodded her head yes, surprised that they had not been up here. Had Tommy completely abandoned all of their friends when he had graduated high school. "It's definitely a step up from your apartment."

"Anything is a step up from my apartment," Tommy said as Adam and Rocky nodded their heads in agreement. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"Pizza is on the way, Tommy," Kim said as he looked down at her and just nodded that that sounded like a good idea. He had thought that he was going to have to go dig through his fridge, but he was grateful that Kim had the sense to figure that he had no food. That was yet another thing that he was going to have to figure out once he and Kimberly had finished this mess.

"You must not have been here very long," Rocky said as Kim barely nodded her head in agreement and the others watched as Tommy smiled. "So, Phaedos it is?"

"Yeah, Phaedos," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her and then reached for her hand.

"Well, how did the two of you get stuck in this situation?" Adam asked as they looked at each other and Tommy then walked over to the couch and sat down.

"I've been stuck since I was the Ninjetti Crane," Kim said as they looked over at her. "The powers never fully transferred to Katherine and when she gave them up, they had to find an owner."

"An owner?" Aisha asked, carefully as Kim nodded. "Well, why didn't any of our other powers react this way?"

"They all did, to a point, but none were as severe as Kimberly's and Tommy's, although Tommy never knew about it," Billy said as Tommy looked over at him. "Your Ninjetti powers were just as obsessive with you as Kimberly's were with her. The only difference is that you had a constant flow of other powers that made those seem like they were not needed. It was not until you decided to take a set of powers that did not equal the Ninjetti powers that they came back."

"So the Dino powers aren't up to par?" Tommy asked as Billy nodded his head yes. "That really does not comfort me any."

"They are not up to par for you, considering every other power you have had has been an equal to the Ninjetti powers, there has never been a reason that they would come back," Billy explained as Kim nodded her head in agreement. She completely agreed with everything that Billy was saying, mainly because of the fact that she had lived all of it.

"I've done all of this Tommy, I'm sure that's what it is," Kim said as Tommy barely nodded and then looked around at the others.

"Then why didn't any of you have the same thing happen?" Tommy asked as Kim looked over at Billy and Billy then looked down at the floor.

"Because their powers had other people to go to, ours decided that they were never going to have another person to inhabit them," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her. "I kinda forced Zordon to explain it to me."

"So I was the only one who didn't know that this would happen?" Tommy asked as several of the others shook their heads no.

"It was just Kim and I. The only reason that I knew about it was because I was the person that tried to break the powers from her and utter failed at the task," Billy said as he looked at the ground.

"I don't blame you Billy, you did everything that you could," Kim said as Billy looked over at her. He still hated that he had not been able to break the powers from her body and give her a chance to have a normal life. "Hopefully we really will be able to get rid of these powers, but we have to go to Phaedos to do that."

"I doubt that Dulcea will be any more accommodating than she was the last time that we showed up," Aisha said as Kim nodded her head in agreement. She knew that Dulcea was not going to be happy to see them, but it was something that had to be done and the sooner the better.

"That's what we thought, so we need to remember how to get where we are going…without tipping Dulcea off if we can help it," Tommy said as they looked over at them.

"She's the keeper of the powers, I honestly doubt that she won't pick the two of you up," Adam said as they both let out long sighs.

"Well, we can always hope," Kim said as they nodded. Dulcea had only allowed them through last time because of Zordon, none of them were sure that she would even allow the two of them through this time, with their purpose being so unclear.

"I don't think deceiving Dulcea is the way to go about this," Billy said, clearly, as they looked over at him. "I think that you should just go into this the same way that we did before. This time, instead of trying to save Zordon, you're trying to save yourselves, you need to just tell her the truth."

"Tell her the truth? Billy, I'm sure that she'll love to hear that I am no longer the pink ranger, but have become the red ranger. These powers were never meant to adapt like this and we were never meant to adapt to be a ranger permanently. We are going back there…we don't really know why, but we know that it's the only place that will solve this for us," Kim said as Tommy nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, if that is your approach, then I think that we need to go over what actually happened on Phaedos," Billy said as Kim and Tommy nodded their heads in agreement.

"Phaedos wasn't that difficult," Adam said as they looked over at him in shook. "Except for having to get the powers, it wasn't that bad. A couple of dinosaur bones that wanted to kill us and some stone men with weapons was about it. It shouldn't be that hard for the two of you to get through."

"Yeah, but there are only two of us. Do you remember how much it took out of us when there were six of us?" Tommy asked as Adam's face contorted and he nodded.

"But Adam does have a point, considering everything that we should have gone through, that was not much. I'm sure that the two of you could make this trip in only a couple of days," Billy said as Kim looked over at him and he then produced two coins from his pocket. "I thought these might be useful."

"The original coins," Tommy muttered as they each took their own and they glowed with an odd ferocity. "I thought that these were lost."

"They were only lost because we were no longer there to take them," Kim said as Tommy gave her a weak smile. "I don't know how we are going to do this."

"The same way that the two of you have done everything else in your lives; you are going to go in fighting and come out the same way and if we don't see you on the other side, we'll all know that it isn't because you didn't try, it's because you tried too hard," Billy said as the two of them looked at him and he let out a sigh. "Zordon always said that it would come down to what the two of you were capable of and now is the time to show that to the world. You've got to go be the rangers you're meant to be and we'll take care of the rest."

"Billy…none of you should…" Kim began as Aisha just held up her hand.

"We all should, we all have had the same burden that you bear, only it was for a much shorter time. Let us do this for you…let us take care of your rangers, so that you can take care of us," Aisha said as Kim and Tommy both barely nodded their heads and the others smiled.

"You better be going before you change your minds," Rocky said as Kim and Tommy both stood up and the others pushed them towards the ray of light that had appeared in their kitchen.

"Make sure you pay the pizza man," Kim said as Tommy and she disappeared and the others looked at each other.

"The two of them are going to try to get back a normal life and she worries about us paying for pizza?" Rocky asked as the others laughed and he just shook his head. "I guess that they would tell us to lock up too, so what are we going to do?"

"Who knows, but we've got orders. Pay for the pizza and I'm guessing after that they want us to eat it and then lock up and leave," Billy said as they all shook their heads.

"Well, I guess that that's what we'll do, we'll just have to figure out how we're going to do that, none of us have keys," Aisha said as Adam walked over to the kitchen table and he held up his hand with keys now dangling around his fingers.

"I think that they thought of everything," Adam said with a smile as the doorbell rang and Rocky went to answer it and Aisha took the baby out of the car seat.

"I guess we might as well get comfortable. It's time to play ranger again," Aisha muttered to the two remaining rangers and they nodded. They had never thought that this was going to happen, but there was nothing that they could do about it. They were now back in the ranger world, even if it was in a very strange way and in a very strange capacity. They were just help, while the real rangers were off saving the world.


	20. Chapter 20

"What the hell happened here?" Kim asked as they landed and looked around at the scenery. It was so much different from the last time that they had been here. Yes, there was still a bountiful amount of stone and water, but that was not what caught her attention. What caught her attention was the forest that had once been in the distance was now encumbering upon the ancient shore.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look like its going to be easy," Tommy said as he reached for her hand and she silently held onto his as he could feel her shaking. No one in their right mind started out a mission like this one without a little bit of trepidation. "We're going to make it back, Kimberly, I promise."

"I'm just worried about Jenny, Tommy, she's so young. She doesn't understand all of this," Kim said as he looked down at her.

"We don't want her to ever get to the point where she understands it and right now we are racing against time. The longer we wait around, the worse it is going to be and the longer we stand here and look at this forest, the worse it is going to be for us once we finally go inside," Tommy said as Kim barely nodded and they then started off towards their journey, having no idea where it might take them.

Phaedos was an eerie place, even for those that had been here before, this was hallowed ground that they were not sure they wanted to go through. It was time for them to give up being rangers, but they didn't know if they could take this. They were tired, they were old and they felt that attempting this was utterly foolish, but they had to do this. If they didn't, they were going to be stuck in a world that would only lead to a young death.

"Tommy…if the powers are going to be different, do you think there is another temple on this planet?" Kim asked as she followed in his stride, attempting to keep out of the way of the branches.

"There could very well be, but we are going to have to try to head for the summit point and then see if we can see anything from there," Tommy said as he reached back for her hand and she barely nodded her head in agreement. "Keep your attention up…I doubt that Dulcea is going miss that there are intruders in her woods."

"You would be right, Tommy," Dulcea said as she landed behind them and Kim twirled around and stared at her in shock. "Why have you come back to Phaedos?"

"We need powers…again," Kim said as Dulcea looked her in the eyes and Kim looked away.

"What else is there Kimberly? If this was only powers, the ones you have would suffice," Dulcea said as Kim and Tommy exchanged a glance. "What has happened to you?"

"We're stuck as rangers," Tommy said as Dulcea dropped her staff out of shock and they stared at her.

"You've come here to disband with your powers?" Dulcea asked as Tommy and Kim looked over at her in confusion.

"We're not exactly sure if that's the truth of the matter…we thought we might be getting another set," Tommy said as Dulcea just shook her head.

"You've come to unbound with those powers, it's what is going to have to happen for you to be released. The main problem may be what your bodies do," Dulcea said as they looked at her. "You must return to the temple and there declare that you wish to return your powers to Phaedos…after returning the powers, you will have to come back to the summit and I will send you back to Earth."

"Our bodies?" Kim barely muttered as Dulcea gave her a thorough look, almost as if scanning for any problems that Kimberly might have.

"You should not even have those powers any longer, not with a child," Dulcea said, as Kim and Tommy exchanged a glance and Dulcea gently placed her hand on Kimberly's stomach.

"I'm not pregnant…but we have a child," Kim said as Dulcea gently stroked her belly and Kimberly looked back at Tommy, as she was shaking from what she was feeling.

"You are Kimberly," Dulcea said as Tommy gently pulled her away so that Kim could clutch onto him. "Come with me, I will guard you until you reach the summit and then you will repeat your journey."

"Tommy…" Kim began as he smiled down at her and she stared at him in shock. "How can you even be smiling right now…you know that we'll probably lose the baby when I give up my powers…"

"Do not ruin it for me, I was not able to enjoy the first two Kim," Tommy said as Kim looked up at him. "I will not believe that we'll lose the baby and if we do, we have time to make as many as we want."

"I don't know if I can stand it," Kim said as Dulcea looked back at the two of them and saw the worry in Kimberly's eyes.

"You will be fine Kimberly, I'm just telling you this so that when you wish to die, you will have some reason to live. The two of you have had powers for so long that to have them ripped from your bodies will make you feel like dying would be better," Dulcea said as Kim and Tommy looked at her. "I once allowed myself to come close when I lost my powers…do not allow it to cross your mind."

As the two of them rested against each other on the crest of the summit looking out towards a temple that they thought that they would never see again, they hoped that tomorrow would somehow be easier. They could not imagined being attacked again as they walked through the skulls and they had even questioned Dulcea about it, but all she had said was that they were going to run a high risk either way. They could only hope that they would be attacked while they still had powers, if they were attacked on the return trip, they both knew there was a good chance that they would die.

"Let's get this over with," Kim muttered as they watched the sun rise and he looked down at her. Neither of them were thrilled to know what they were walking into, but they could be glad that at least they had each other, even if that was not much comfort at the moment.

"After you," Tommy said as she just shook her head and then followed him into the jungle, willing this trip to not be as horrifying as what they honestly expected.

"And so it begins," Dulcea said as she looked over at her friend, who merely shook his head. He was also unsure of how this would end, but he was sure that it would be the end of the two greatest rangers to ever grace the earth.

"We should have found a way around this 'Cea," Lanion said as Dulcea looked over at him and she sighed. "The two of them do not deserve this sort of treatment after all they have done."

"It's not our choice Lane, the two of them must disband with their powers in order to live again," Dulcea said as Lanion shook his own head, but kept himself rather calm. If Dulcea thought they could make it through what was ahead of them, who was he to disagree with her?

* * *

"Where have they gone?" Jenny cried as Susan wrapped her up in a hug. She was not sure how to comfort the child, considering that her parents had left them nothing to go on. She was definitely going to have a talk with Tommy once all of this was over, but right now she just hoped that he would come back in one piece.

"I'm not sure sweetie, but they'll be back soon, I promise," Susan said as Jenny just shook her head.

"You don't understand. Mommy's been gone for weeks and I didn't know where she was. Now it's her and Daddy? Why is this happening?" Jenny wailed as Mack stepped over and picked up the sobbing child.

"I don't know why Jenny, but I know that they love you and they wouldn't have done this is there was another way," Mack said as Jenny looked up at him.

"Andros could always go," Jenny said as Mack looked down at her and began rocking back and forth.

"I don't think that he could this time or they would have let him. Your mommy and daddy love you, they are doing this for you," Mack said as Jenny just shook her head. She didn't understand why this was going the way that it was going, but maybe things would change soon, but she honestly doubted it. Every time after something like this happened, things always seemed to just get worse, not better. She, however, did not want to share that with her grandparents; she felt that they wouldn't understand what she had already saw in her short life.


	21. Chapter 21

"Fun…I loved those little dinosaurs back then…they are even better now," Tommy said with a laugh as Kim landed on the ground with a thump.

"Just shut up," Kim muttered as he pulled her up and they continued on. "I would think that we wouldn't have to go through this if our intent was to give back our powers."

"Yeah, but it'll be all right, hopefully they'll just let us through on the way back when they sense that we have taken nothing from them anymore," Tommy said as Kim smiled. He certainly knew how to calm her, even when things had gone bad for her and right now she was not very sure of herself. The news that she was pregnant was something that she had not expected, although her luck with Tommy was pretty much that they were going to be pregnant after they had sex. She just should have known better than to allow it to happen again.

"I'm just afraid that I can't go through this again," Kim whispered as Tommy grabbed her hand and gently tugged her along.

"You won't be alone Kim, I promise you that," Tommy said as he kissed her cheek and then gave her a hug. "I've chosen you now and I'm not changing my mind. We just have to make it back and then we'll go from there."

"That'll be easier said than done Tommy," Kim said as he looked down at her.

"Don't be a pessimist today, be one tomorrow when we're back home," Tommy said with a smile as she just shook her head.

"I hope you're right and this will only take one day," Kim said as Tommy nodded his head in agreement. He desperately wanted to get back to their child and back to trying to make themselves into a family, because ever since he had found out about this they had been trying. However, they had been going through hell to just attempt to be together.

"Trust me," Tommy said as Kim smiled and they then looked at the miles left to go. "Come on, if we stop it'll only make it worse when we finally get there."

"I'm not sure that it can be much worse than facing those goons," Kim said as Tommy let out a groan. He had managed to block out the rock gang from his memory. There had been a couple of things that had almost happened that he had definitely blocked from his memory. Being a ranger had scarred him for life in some respects and there were times that he had no choice but to forget, so that he could move on with his life.

"We just have to get to the temple and return the powers, it's not like we're trying to take anything from this time," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him.

"Yeah, but that didn't stop bone head here," Kim said nodding to the piles of bones left behind them. They had definitely thought that they would not have this problem again, but maybe the temple would not be as bad. At least, that was what they hoped.

* * *

Several hours later as they walked up to the temple, the both of them stared that the stone guardians wondering what they should do. They had no idea how to give back the power and they both sincerely doubted that they could do it easily. As one of the stone statues moved, Kim grasped for Tommy's hand and he gave hers a reassuring squeeze. They both knew that the pain was going to start soon, or so they thought.

"You must journey inside the temple, there will be enough energy to bring you back to the summit once you have disbanded," the statue said as Kim and Tommy stared at him as the stone wall raised itself once again and they both walked into the chamber that they had only seen for a brief moment when they received these precious powers which had saved Zordon, but were likely to cost them their lives if they kept them much longer.

The moment that the solid stone wall closed behind them, Kimberly collapsed to her knees and Tommy quickly squatted down next to her, trying to figure out what has happening. He could feel it as well, but obviously this was much worse for her and he could not help but think of the baby as she let out a moan.

"Don't leave me, Tommy," Kim whispered as he barely nodded his head. He had had no intentions of doing any such thing, but the desperation in her voice made him know that he could not, under any circumstances, leave her. "I'm so sorry."

"What for?" Tommy asked as he moved her further into the cave, away from the demented stone wall.

"The baby's not going to make it," Kim whispered as she pressed her face into his neck and let out a gut-wrenching sob. "It feels just like before."  
"Shh…everything is going to be just fine, it's just the powers being taken away, sweetheart," Tommy whispered as she just shook her head. She knew her body and she knew that right now it was betraying her in the worst way possible. She could not believe that she was having another miscarriage and this time with Tommy so close by. Her belief had been that the first time was because of their distance and the stress, now she could only blame it on the stress. "It's okay, are you comfortable enough?"

"I'm fine, just cramping," Kim murmured as he shifted himself behind her and leaned her body back into his. "Tommy…"

"Don't, Kimberly…I can barely concentrate as it is…this is no fun," Tommy said, as he had never fully lost this set of powers, although so many others had come and gone throughout the years of service. "Just stay with me."

"I'll try," Kim muttered before she felt herself faint and Tommy soon followed behind her.


	22. Chapter 22

"What's happened to them?" Conner asked as they had discovered Kim and Dr. O passed out in the Command Center. They had done the only thing that they could, call Andros and hope that he had an answer.

"They have no powers," Andros muttered as he scanned their bodies again. "They somehow gave back the Ninja powers and have freed themselves from being rangers for the rest of their lives."

"So why are they passed out?" Kira asked as Andros just shrugged his shoulders. He had no clue why this had happened, but he was sure that they would figure it out at some point. "You're supposed to know these things."

"No one has ever had the Ninja powers completely taken away before, none of us knew what would happen. That's why I've called in the back up, but it'll take them a couple of hours to get here," Andros said as they all stared at him. They could not believe that he couldn't get them up here sooner. "There is nothing that I can do for them and they are stable."

"According to you," Kira fired back as Andros just shook his head. He was not going to rise to that sort of comment when he knew that the others would be here soon. He couldn't really risk pissing them off anymore at the moment.

"Hey Andros, they still out cold?" Jason asked as he walked into the Command Center with Trini right behind him and just shook her head. "Do you think that we should bring Jenny?"

"No, Kim would kill us if we brought her into this, we need to wake them up without her," Trini said as she slowly lowered herself onto the couch and looked over at Jason. "We didn't even have these powers, I'm not sure that we'll be much help in getting them back."

"But we need to see what we can do, then call in Billy if we must," Jason said as Trini nodded. Jason was not going to let her stay at home, especially considering that she was within a couple of weeks of her due date. The last thing that they needed was for her to go into labor and him be in Reefside.

"What do you have Andros?" Trini asked as he looked over at her.

"They have had their powers taken away from them and are no longer rangers, other than that I can sense that Kim has had some other issue, I just don't know what," Andros said as Jason and Trini looked at each other.

"With their luck, Kimberly was pregnant when she went on this mission," Trini said as Andros and Jason stared over at her. "Every time that the two of them had sex, she got pregnant, miscarriage, Jenny, and this is probably another miscarriage."

"So, they've only had sex three times?" Conner said as they glared over at him. "Well, if you're going to air out the dirty laundry, I might as well get some good dirt."

"Try to use that dirt and see what Tommy Oliver will do to you," Andros said as Conner looked over at him. "What does that have to do with waking them up?"

"If I'm right their unconscious is together, working out whatever is going on with the two of them. They'll wake up in their own time, but they have to work it out," Trini said as Jason nodded. He hadn't wanted to say that to Andros over the phone, but he knew that it was the truth with Tommy and Kim. They weren't going to wake up until they were good and damn ready.

"So we just have to wait?" Ethan asked as Trini and Jason nodded their heads that that was certainly the case.

* * *

"Are we dead?" Kim groaned as she rolled over to look at Tommy and she struggled to push herself up. "Where the hell are we?"

"I have no clue, but it's not home and it's not that damn tomb looking thing either," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell," Kim answered as she looked around the murky area and then reached for his hand, but found that she couldn't touch him. "No…"

"There's nothing that we can do about that, I tried to do that earlier. We must not be touching wherever we are now," Tommy said as Kim gave him a confused look. "This is our spirit half, not our physical half, although I don't know why this would happen."

"I'm still pregnant," Kim whispered as he looked over at her in confusion. "I didn't know I could possibly still be pregnant."

"Maybe we're supposed to save this baby," Tommy said as Kim reached his hand again, determined to touch him. "Kim?"

"I need to be able to touch you," Kim said desperately as Tommy looked over at her and tried to reach for her hand as well. They then found themselves in a great deal of pain, but able to touch each other again. "Tommy."

"Yeah?" Tommy asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"We have to get back to our real selves, but I don't know how to do that," Kim said as he held onto her tighter and his hands did not still on her body until he felt her shaking.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked as she pulled away from him and looked down at her hands. "Kim…"

"I'm too far gone Tommy," Kim whispered as she disappeared and he felt himself being brought back to his body.

"Kimberly!" Tommy yelled as he woke up and started shaking Kim's arm as he saw the blood spreading from her body. "Call an ambulance."

"Tommy?" Trini asked.

"Now!" Tommy yelled as Jason ran upstairs for the phone and Tommy carried her to the kitchen and laid her down on the floor. "Come on Kim, stay with me."

"Do you know what's wrong?" Andros asked as he felt for a pulse and it was dim.

"She just left," Tommy said as Andros looked over at him. "I can't lose her now, I didn't come all this way to lose her now."

"You might, she may have never been able to let go of the powers," Andros said as Tommy glared over at him. That was not what this was, she was going to be fine, she was going to survive this.

"Damn it Kimberly, come on!" Tommy yelled as Andros shook his head that she no longer had a pulse. As Tommy did CPR, he could not stop himself from crying, knowing that this could be it and he did not want things to go this way.


	23. Chapter 23

"Daddy, what happened?" Jenny asked as Tommy walked into his parents' house, still covered in blood as his parents looked at him. They could tell that something had gone terribly wrong, but they did not want to hear him say anything. They were sure that it was Kimberly's blood that covered his shirt and the fact that she was not here with him could only mean one thing. "Daddy, where's Mama?"

"She's not coming home this time sweetie," Tommy whispered as he squatted down next to her and she gave him a confused look. "Mama died."

"No, Mama promised she'd come back," Jenny said as Tommy pulled her into a hug and her fists beat into him as he gulped to try to keep his composure. "Mama promised!"

"I know and Mama tried to and she told me to tell you that she loves you, but she couldn't hold on any longer, her body couldn't take it anymore," Tommy whispered as she sobbed on his shoulder and Tommy squeezed his eyes shut. It was hard enough losing Kimberly, but to hear their daughter crying like this broke his heart. He was barely able to hold himself together without hearing her sobs.

"Tommy," Susan said as he just shook his head. He had to take care of his daughter at the moment, he would cry with them later.

"Who will take care of me?" Jenny moaned as Tommy rocked her back and forth in his arms.

"I will, it was what your mother wanted," Tommy said as Jenny just shook her head. How could he take care of her? He didn't even know anything about being a parent, not like her mom did.

"You don't know anything about being a daddy," Jenny cried as Tommy looked down at her and then held her tighter.

"I know, but I'm going to try, I don't have a choice and I love you Jenny, I really do," Tommy said as Jenny barely nodded as she hiccupped and then slowly cried herself to sleep against his chest.

"Tommy," Susan said as she threw her arms around him and he sobbed on her shoulder.

"Mom, I never thought that she would die like this. I never thought that she would… I thought I would be the one to go like this, that she would be the one with the kids," Tommy whispered, trying not to disturb the child in his arms and being rescued by his father as he took the child from his arms. "She died in my arms."

"Tommy, I'm so sorry," Susan said as his sobs continued and he just shook in her arms. "When is the funeral?"

"I haven't even thought about it, her parents have been notified and her will, will be read tomorrow to all of us. We'll plan everything after that," Tommy said as Susan nodded and just held her son, who was trying to be much stronger than he needed to be. He needed to cry, to get it out, but she was sure that it would take years for him to heal. He would not get over losing Kimberly in one day and no one expected that of him.

* * *

"When I was asked to do this, I didn't know what I would say. I love her more than anyone I've ever known and I'll continue loving her, even in death. She was a wonderful woman, a woman that I thought I had lost for years and I just found her again. I found a daughter as well, that I now have to raise without her. I never thought that this would be my life or that this would be the way that she died. With her also went our child and the love of my life. Kimberly, may you rest in peace," Tommy said as he walked over to the casket and opened it before placing a ring box next to her. "I love you."

The rest of the funeral passed as a blur with Tommy returning to Jenny's side and placing her on his lap. The tears that fell from his eyes, fell in silence, he had no more harsh sobs, only the harsh reality of what was left of his life. The will had been read two days ago and he had been given the custody rights to Jenny, as well as everything that Kim owned, which was more than he thought existed, but he would have given all of that up just to have her back, but he knew that wouldn't happen she was gone. He stood next to the casket and finally broke down in sobs as everyone left the two of them alone for the final time. There was so much he wanted to say, so much that he wanted to do, but he knew that his time was past and there was nothing that he could do about it.

* * *

"Tommy, wake up!" Kim yelled as she shook him out of his sleep and he awoke in a cold sweat, clutching his wife as the tears streamed down his cheeks. "The dream again?"

"Yeah, how's the baby?" Tommy asked as he looked down at her round belly and she smiled. He always asked about the baby after that dream and she wondered what he would do once the baby was born to get her away from asking what it was about. She respected that it was something he didn't want to talk about, but she knew he would have to one day.

"Fine Tommy, are you okay?" Kim asked as he nodded his head yes and just pulled her closer, letting himself know that she was real and that she was alive. "You know I'll never leave you."

"Yeah, not on purpose," Tommy whispered as she gave him a curious look. "I can't talk about it Kim, it's too rough and it was too close to actually being a reality."

"That's what I thought, get back to sleep Tommy and don't worry about me," Kim whispered as he rested against her and was soon sound asleep. Kim could only guess what he was dreaming of, but she knew that he was likely to never tell her. It was like him to think that if he spoke his dreams, they might become a reality. She just hoped that he would learn to live without that fear, because the child that should have died lived and was living inside of her. In three weeks this child would be born and he would be there to see it, all because of the fact that he would not let her let go.


End file.
